The Mediating Role of Psychological Capital in the Relationship Between Occupational Stress and Fatigue: A Cross-Sectional Study Among 1,104 Chinese Physicians

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the association of occupational stress with fatigue and to examine the mediating role of psychological capital (PsyCap) among Chinese physicians. Materials and Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted in Liaoning province, China, in 2018. Using a multistage stratified sampling method, a total of 1,500 physicians participated and 1,104 (73.6%) physicians responded effectively. The study used a self-administered questionnaire consisting of the 14-item Fatigue Scale (FS-14), the Effort-reward Imbalance questionnaire (ERI), the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ) and items about demographic and working characteristics. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed to explore the association of occupational stress, PsyCap, and fatigue among physicians. Asymptotic and resampling strategies were used to examine the mediating effect.Results: The incidence of fatigue among Chinese physicians was 83.70%. The average level of fatigue was 7.96 ± 3.95 (mean ± SD). Occupational stress and PsyCap were significantly associated with fatigue. PsyCap significantly mediated the association of ERR (a × b = 0.106, bias-corrected and accelerated 95% confidence interval [BCa 95% CI]: 0.078, 0.138) and overcommitment (a × b = 0.068, BCa 95% CI: 0.044, 0.092) with fatigue. Two important components of PsyCap, self-efficacy and resilience, play more important roles in the mediating effect. Conclusions:The level of fatigue among Chinese physicians was high, which should be taken seriously by management. PsyCap could mediate the association between occupational stress and fatigue. The intervention strategies and measures to relieve fatigue could be focused on physicians' positive PsyCap improvement.

Self-efficacy and fatigue among health care workers during COVID-19 outbreak: A moderated mediation model of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and negative coping

“…Therefore, those reasons might explain the differences. In the current study, there was no gender difference in fatigue, which is consistent with previous literature [38]. However, several previous studies claimed that women were more likely to suffer from fatigue [6,48].…”

“…According to the previous literature based on Chinses samples [37], a cut-off ≥7 indicated the caseness of fatigue. The Chinese version of the scale has been widely used in health care settings with good validity and reliability [6,38]. In the study, the Cronbach's Alpha for FS-14 was 0.907.…”

“…Considerable studies found the lower prevalence of fatigue ranging from 21.6 to 45.5% [43][44][45][46], whereas Da Silva et al [47] reported the overall incidence rate of fatigue among nursing workers in Brazil was 52%, which is in line with our ndings. Moreover, several research observed higher incidence rates of fatigue ranging from 83.7 to 91.9% [38,48,49]. The discrepancy might be explained by the different de nitions of fatigues, diverse assessment tools, inconsistent cut-off points and so forth.…”

Transformational Leadership Spur Organizational Commitment among Optimistic Followers: The Role of Psychological Capital

“…Fourth, the findings also concert with previous results identifying psychological capital as a critical mediator linking TL and OC. Past studies also stated the mediating role of psychological capital (Carmona-Halty, Schaufeli, & Salanova, 2019;Liao, Hu, Chung, & Chen, 2017;Tian et al, 2020). The results of this study suggest that higher levels of psychological capital facilitate the nurses in attaining their individual as well as organizational goals.…”

Self-efficacy and fatigue among non-frontline health care workers during COVID-19 outbreak: A moderated mediation model of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and negative coping

“…Considerable studies found the lower prevalence of fatigue ranging from 21.6 to 45.5% [59][60][61][62], whereas Da Silva et al [63] reported the overall incidence rate of fatigue among nursing workers in Brazil was 52%, which is in line with our findings. Moreover, several research observed higher incidence rates of fatigue ranging from 83.7 to 91.9% [54,64,65]. The discrepancy might be attributed to different definitions of fatigue, diverse assessment tools, inconsistent cut-off points and so forth.…”