A comparison of selected variables and their impact on burnout in registered nurses in the rural hospital setting

Abstract

The purpose of this-descriptive field study was to determine if differences exist in levels of burnout in rural nurs~s working: full-time and part~time; in full-time nurses staying in the same area versus changing·work areas; differing amounts of time- in direct face-to face contact with patients; with: nurses- having g·reat·er· amounts of· ·time in contact with the same patients versus those having less amounts of. time in contact with the same patients; with var.ying scheduled work interruptions. This study also compared levels of burnout of nurses in rural Georgia in 1987 and rural Idaho in 1982. A convenience sample of ·98 registered nurses voluntarily participated in the study. The Human Services survey instrument developed by Christina Maslach and Susan Jackson was used to measure levels of burnout~ A demographic survey accompanied the Maslach-Jackson tool. . Results of the t-tests and one-way analyses of variance revealed significant differences at the .05 level in the MBI subscale mean scores for emotional exhaustion in hypothesis one, and in one section of the fourth hypothesis. No significant differences were· demonstrated in either the depersonalization or personal accomplishment subscales. These findings resulted in the rejection ·of the research hypotheses. The findings of this investigation as well as other extensive studies of national healthcare workers indicate the need to take different directions in the study of burnout. Future studies could study burnout in connection with other variables such as turnover, hardiness, decision making, and self actualization.