Relationship between hardiness and nurses’ professional burnout

Introduction: Burnout syndrome includes aspects of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and decrement of personal accomplishment which medical staffs are vulnerable to because of their exposure to physical and psychological stressors. In different professions nursing is one of the most important sources of occupational burnout. According to studies some characteristics such as psychological hardiness as stress reduction can prevent occupational burnout. Objective: This study aimed to determine the relationship between psychological hardiness and occupational burnout in nurses. Methods: Present study is a correlational descriptive study conducted in 2011 in Shahid Ansari hospital in Rudsar. Study community consisted of 133 employed nurses working in nine nursing wards from which 100 of them were chosen using Morgan table who responded to Barton hardiness scale and professional burnout questionnaires. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Study Findings showed that the majority (40%) of samples were in range of 26-30 years old and most (58%) of them were females. Highest mean and standard deviation in personal accomplishment domain (44.17&plusmn;8.65) was, in burnout variables and commitment domain (37.8&plusmn;13.62) was psychological hardiness. Results of Pearson correlational test showed that challenge in hardiness domain was significantly related to all three domain of emotional exhaustion (p<0.01), personal accomplishment (p<0.05) and depersonalization (p<0.05) in occupational burnout. This test also indicated a significant relationship between commitment and emotional exhaustion (p<0.01), personal accomplishment (p<0.05) and depersonalization (p<0.05) and also between control and hardiness with emotional exhaustion (p<0.01), personal accomplishment (p<0.05) and depersonalization (p<0.05). Conclusion: Study results showed a reverse relationship between hardiness and occupational burnout of nurses which can be the guide of including hardiness in formal and informal nursing education so to decrease their susceptibility level in time of stress and control the burnout level.