Protecting Nurses from Mistreatment by Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study on the Roles of Emotional Contagion Susceptibility and Emotional Regulation Ability

Abstract

In recent years, patient mistreatment of healthcare workers, especially nurses, has been frequent, endangering the interests of organizations while also threatening nurses’ own development. This study aims to examine from the perspective of nurses’ personal interests whether mistreatment by patients decreases nurses’ workplace well-being and career commitment, and how their susceptibility to emotional contagion and emotional regulation ability might mitigate these negative effects. This study adopted a cross-sectional study design (data were collected through self-reported questionnaires with a two-month time lag between the months of August–October 2017). A total of 289 nurses from three hospitals in Shandong province, China, were recruited to participate in our study. The results reveal that mistreatment by patients is negatively related to nurses’ workplace well-being and career commitment. Emotional contagion susceptibility moderates the relationships between mistreatment by patients and career commitment, while there is no significant buffering effect of mistreatment by patients on workplace well-being. Emotional regulation ability moderates the relationships between mistreatment by patients and both workplace well-being and career commitment. These results suggest that improvements in nurses’ emotional regulation ability and susceptibility to emotional contagion can alleviate the harmful impacts of mistreatment by patients.

Patient mistreatment, social sharing of negative events and emotional exhaustion among Chinese nurses: the combined moderating effect of organizational support and trait resilience

“…We also explored whether the moderating effect of organizational support on the relationship between the social sharing of negative events and emotional exhaustion depended on individual resilience. First, this study confirmed a significant positive correlation between nurses’ experiences of patient mistreatment and emotional exhaustion, which is consistent with previous studies [ 6 , 7 , 84 – 86 ]. The findings once again underscore the detrimental impact of patient mistreatment on nurses’ emotional and psychological well-being.…”

“…Studies have shown that the most vulnerable healthcare workers victimized are nurses and paramedics [ 3 , 4 ], with the most common perpetrators being patients, their relatives, or visitors [ 5 ]. A recent survey of 4263 nurses in the healthcare sector showed that 54% of respondents had experienced verbal violence by patients [ 6 ], including negative emotional behaviors exhibited by patients or their families, such as anger, swearing, insults, yelling, and speaking rudely toward nurses [ 7 – 9 ]. All these negative emotional behaviors are known as “patient mistreatment”.…”

“…All these negative emotional behaviors are known as “patient mistreatment”. A considerable amount of research conducted in healthcare organizations has shown that exposure to patient mistreatment is a strong predictor of stress, emotional exhaustion, turnover intention and obstacles to career development among nurses [ 6 , 7 , 10 – 13 ]. Specifically, emotional exhaustion, characterized by intense fatigue, lack of interest, low mood, and less enthusiasm for jobs, is not only a key outcome resulting from patient mistreatment but also serves as a significant predictor of nurse turnover and a decline in nursing job performance.…”

Impact of Workplace Mistreatment on Employees’ Health and Well-Being in Chinese Firms: A Systematic Review

“…Zhang et al, 2022), sleep quality (Y. Liu et al, 2017), emotional contagion susceptibility (B. Liu et al, 2021), training and participation (Hu et al, 2018) did not moderate the relationship between mistreatment from customers and negative mood (γ = −0.14, p > .10), cognitive rumination (γ = 0.22, p = .35), social sharing of negative work events (γ = 0.19, p = .24), healthy food consumption (γ = 0.01, p < .05), emotional exhaustion (γ = 0.19, p > .05), workplace well-being ( β = .003, n.s .…”

The Impact of Emotional Contagion in Nurses on Missed Nursing Care: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…This situation increases the likelihood of nurses transmitting emotions such as happiness, joy, disappointment, anxiety, fear, anger, stress, trust, etc. [7]. Since the emotions that nurses possess can impact nursing care and, particularly, negative emotions can jeopardize patient safety, it is emphasized that the susceptibility of nurses to emotional contagion and its consequences should be examined and managed effectively to prevent adverse outcomes [7][8].…”