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Job-related meaningfulness moderates the association between over-commitment and emotional exhaustion in nurses
Petra Schadenhofer1, Michael Kundi2, Heidemarie Abrahamian3,4
1Gender Medicine Unit, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Aim:
To evaluate characteristics of job-related meaningfulness, and to assess its potential to moderate the relationship between over-commitment and emotional exhaustion in nurses.
Background:
Increased demands on nurses may induce vulnerability to emotional exhaustion, decrease job satisfaction, and increase their intention to quit the job. The experience of job-related meaningfulness through meaning-centred logotherapy and counseling could be a resource to prevent emotional exhaustion.
Method:
Nurses (n = 466; 73% female) at an Austrian tertiary-care hospital participated in a cross-sectional survey for assessment of job-related meaningfulness by the newly developed CERES (Concern, Enthusiasm, Relevance, Efficacy, Satisfaction) scale. CERES was tested for its moderating interaction with over-commitment (assessed by the Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire) to prevent emotional exhaustion (as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory) by structural equation modelling.
Results:
The CERES scale consisting of five items has satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha: .78). Over-commitment correlated significantly (p < .001) with emotional exhaustion. A moderating interaction of CERES with over-commitment on emotional exhaustion was found overall (p < .001), and separately for males (p = .002) and females (p < .001).
Conclusions:
CERES is suitable for assessing experienced job-related meaningfulness and it moderates emotionally exhausting effects of over-commitment in nurses.
Implications For Nursing Management:
Nursing managers may improve nurses' awareness of job-related meaningfulness by focusing on meaning-centred feed-back and counselling and thereby strengthening perception of concern, enthusiasm, relevance, efficacy, and satisfaction regarding their caring behaviour.
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