Association of Faculty Perceptions of Work–Life With Emotional Exhaustion and Intent to Leave Academic Nursing: Report on a National Survey of Nurse Faculty

Abstract

The current and projected nurse faculty shortage threatens the capacity to educate sufficient numbers of nurses for meeting demand. As part of an initiative to foster strategies for expanding educational capacity, a survey of a nationally representative sample of 3,120 full-time nurse faculty members in 269 schools and programs that offered at least one prelicensure degree program was conducted. Nearly 4 of 10 participants reported high levels of emotional exhaustion, and one third expressed an intent to leave academic nursing within 5 years. Major contributors to burnout were dissatisfaction with workload and perceived inflexibility to balance work and family life. Intent to leave was explained not only by age but by several potentially modifiable aspects of work, including dissatisfaction with workload, salary, and availability of teaching support. Preparing sufficient numbers of nurses to meet future health needs will require addressing those aspects of work-life that undermine faculty teaching capacity.

Occupational stress facing nurse academics—A mixed‐methods systematic review

“…Perceived unreasonable workloads including high student numbers and insufficient support led to job dissatisfaction and greater chances of experiencing burnout (Sarmiento et al, ). This finding echoes Yedidia et al, () who identified dissatisfaction with workload issues was a major factor that contributed to burnout. Within the Australian context, McAllister et al () identified role overload, isolation, a nonvalidating culture, pace of change, and work role pressures as a challenge in meeting the needs of nursing academics.…”

“…Yedidia et al () found that the major contributors to burnout were dissatisfaction with increasing workloads and perceived inflexibility with balancing work and family life. Their study surveyed n = 3,120 full‐time nurse faculty members from 269 schools offering a degree programme.…”

“…Tourangeau et al () found that more collegial relationship is needed to enhance work–life balances. Yedidia et al () clearly demonstrated that one of the biggest factors responsible for burnout was the perceived inflexibility in balancing work and family life and dissatisfaction with work–life balance. Westphal, Manorcha, and Chapin's () study equally supported this important aspect.…”

Perceptions of Teaching, Research, and Service Expertise, Workload, Organizational Support, and Satisfaction among U.S. Faculty Members’ Intent to Stay in Tier 1 or Tier 2 Organizations: A Structural Equation Model

“…This suggests that as WL increases, satisfaction and intent to remain in the academe decreases. This is congruent with findings related to WL (Ryan, 2012;Enders et al, 2015;Yedidia et al, 2014), especially accounts detailing the long work hours (e.g., Kaufman, 2007;Lindfeld et al, 2015) and work that is performed outside of the confines of the academic organization (Bentley & Kyvik, 2012;Dennison, 2012;Kuntz, 2012). Although not statistically significant in our model, it is interesting to note that WL was a positive predictor of PPE, suggesting that faculties in these academic organizations perceive higher WL as positively predicting performance evaluations.…”

“…Extant research shows that balance between work and personal life is important among nursing faculty (Tourangeau et al, 2014), and lack of balance can lead to dissatisfaction with work, and a perceived inability to achieve a work-life balance among nursing faculty (Yedidia et al, 2014). Interestingly, Lindfelt et al (2015) found that members of the pharmacy school faculty reported a satisfaction with their position within their organization but were simultaneously dissatisfied with their work-life balance due to perceived overly long workweeks and lack of sleep.…”