ABSTRACT
Objective@#To investigate the effect of occupational exposure on job burnout in nurses, and to analyze the mediating effect of negative emotion between occupational exposure and job burnout and the regulatory effect of supervisor support on occupational exposure and negative emotion.@*Methods@#From September to December, 2015, simple random sampling was used to select 543 nurses from six tertiary hospitals in Zhejiang Province, China. The questionnaires consisted of occupational exposure risk questionnaire, negative emotion questionnaire, supervisor support questionnaire, and job burnout questionnaire.@*Results@#The total score of occupational exposure risk in nurses was 11.43±7.19; the score of emotional exhaustion was 3.19±1.24, the score of low sense of personal accomplishment was 3.02±1.21, and the score of sense of working indifference was 2.24±1.06. There were significant differences in occupational exposure score between nurses with different sexes (t=2.61, P<0.01) and working years (F=4.49, P<0.01) . There were significant differences in the scores of emotional exhaustion and low sense of personal accomplishment in nurses with different sexes (t=5.25, P<0.001) and working years (t=-3.48, P<0.01) . Occupational exposure had positive effects on negative emotion (β=0.41, P<0.05) , emotional exhaustion (β=0.47, P<0.05) , sense of working indifference (β=0.42, P<0.05) , and low sense of personal accomplishment (β=0.17, P<0.05) . Negative emotion had a partial mediating effect between occupational exposure and emotional exhaustion (total effect size 30.5%, P<0.05) and between occupational exposure and sense of working indifference (total effect size 37.1%, P<0.05) . Negative emotion had a complete mediating effect between occupational exposure and low sense of personal accomplishment (β=0.08, P>0.05) . Supervisor support negatively regulate the effects of occupational exposure and negative emotion (F=21.73, P<0.001) .@*Conclusion@#In nurses, occupational exposure has a direct positive effect on job burnout and indirectly influences job burnout via negative emotion. Supervisor support can reduce the negative impact of occupational exposure on negative emotion.