Vulnerability and Stressors for Burnout Within a Population of Hospital Nurses: A Qualitative Descriptive Study.

BACKGROUND: The multitude of negative consequences of nurse burnout calls for interventions to protect the well-being of the individual nurses, patients, and hospital organizations. However, much is still to be discovered about the development of this complex psychological syndrome. PURPOSE: This study aimed to describe the development of nurse burnout for a population of Flemish hospital nurses while considering vulnerability and situational stressors as indicated by the vulnerability-stress model. METHODS: Ten registered nurses were enlisted for semistructured interviews through purposive sampling. All selected nurses were currently suffering from burnout, showed a burnout risk, or had gone through a burnout in the past. A descriptive thematic analysis was performed with themes inductively emerging from the data. RESULTS: Four main themes emerged: "being passionate about doing well or being good," "teamwork," "manager," and "work and personal circumstances." More specifically, it was the discrepancy between the first individual vulnerability factor and the three situational stressors that led to feelings of stress and burnout. CONCLUSIONS: The essence of the development of nurse burnout was found in the discrepancy between individual vulnerability and situational stressors. Therefore, we recommend burnout prevention to target both factors.

[Person-centered care for elderly persons with dementia in nursing homes in the Dutch speaking part of Belgium]. / Persoonsgerichte zorg voor personen met dementie in Vlaamse woonzorgcentra.

Background Providing person centered care for elderly persons with dementia in residential care settings is challenging. Furthermore, little insight exists into how employees apply person centered care.Goal Map the provision of person centered care for elderly persons with dementia by employees in nursing homes in the Dutch speaking part of Belgium.Methods Eight interviews and two focus groups were conducted with 25 employees of six residential care settings. A descriptive research approach was applied in four phases.Results Three themes emerged from the data concerning employee experiences with person centered care: (1) organizational support; (2) team support and (3) employee mindset. As person centered actions within the current practice, two themes were identified: (4) care at the pace of the resident and (5) contact adapted to the residents' needs.Conclusion Five themes regarding person centered care were found. However, specific examples of how this care was provided in practice could not be provided or were mostly examples of basic care. Employees are often obstructed by task oriented care. Setting the wishes and needs of the residents as reference point, providing organizational support, and investing in training might facilitate person centered care in residential care settings.

Exploring the influence of core-self evaluations, situational factors, and coping on nurse burnout: A cross-sectional survey study.

Stress has become an inherent aspect of the nursing profession. Chronically experienced work stress can lead to burnout. Although situational stressors show a significant influence on burnout, their power to predict the complete syndrome is rather limited. After all, stressors only exist "in the eye of the beholder". This study aimed to explore how individual vulnerability factors such as core-self evaluations and coping, contribute to burnout in relation to situational stressors within a population of hospital nurses. Cross-sectional data was collected in 2014, using five validated self-report instruments: Dutch Core Self Evaluations Scale, Nursing Work Index Revised, Utrecht Coping List, Ruminative Response Scale, and Utrecht Burnout Scale. 219 of the 250 questionnaires were returned. Core-self evaluations, situational factors and coping each contributed significantly to the predictive capacity of the models of the separate burnout dimensions. Core-self evaluations was significantly related to emotional exhaustion. It was suggested that Core-self evaluations might be placed at the initiation of the loss cycle. However, further research is warranted.