Overcoming stressful situations and professional burnout of nurses: Analysis of the network

Abstract

The relevance of the research is due to the fact thatmethods of coping with stress are an important predictor of professional burnout. However, previous studies have focused on the assessment of two-dimensional correlations, and did not take into account the complex structure of connections of coping methods both with each other and with the symptoms of professional burnout. The use of a network approach allows us to overcome this limitation. The purpose of the study is to reconstruct the network of correlations between the ways of coping with stressful situations and professional burnout and also to describe this network. The research hypothesis that ways of coping with stressful situations form clusters of nodes which are connected with each other and with burnout symptoms, contributing to the manifestation of nurses’ burnout. Participants: 97 nurses (Udmurt Republic) aged from 24 to 71 years old (M = 46.58; SD = 9.54) with work experience from 2 to 53 years (M = 24.95; SD = 9.92). Methods: “Dealing with Diffi cult Life Situations Questionnaire” (by W. Janke, G. Erdmann), which allows to evaluate 20 dispositional ways to overcome stressful situations, and “Maslach Burnout Inventory for Medical Personnel” (by C. Maslach, S. Jackson), aimed at studying the symptoms of burnout; network analysis. Results: the study has revealed that ways of coping with stressful situations form intercorrelated clusters. The nodes of the fi rst cluster are aimed at reducing stress and are associated with professionalism as a symptom of burnout, and the nodes of the second cluster contribute to stress growing and are associated with emotional exhaustion and cynicism. The central node of the fi rst cluster is the desire to successfully solve the problem, and the central node of the second cluster is the inability to distract from the problem. Conclusion: the results obtained are consistent with the previous studies, but clarify them. The study describes the activation specifi cs of the identifi ed patterns based on the structure of correlations, which makes it possible to predict the response of the network under study to psychological infl uences. Practical significance: the research results can be useful for identifying indicators of professional burnout based on the observed patterns of stress management. The study is the fi rst one carried out in this area on the basis of a network approach. 

Keywords

• professional burnout
• emotional burnout
• stress
• d ealing with stress
• coping
• analysis of networks
• network analysis