The relationship of resilience, hardiness, depression and burnout among Japanese psychiatric hospital nurses

Abstract

Objectives: Psychological resilience is considered to be the ability of an individual to adjust positively to adversity. This study was conducted to examine the resilience of nurses in psychiatric hospitals in Japan. Two hypotheses tested were: 1) their resilience is negatively correlated to their depression and burnout; 2) their resilience is positively correlated to their hardiness and self-esteem Method:To identify the magnitude of individuals' resilience, a 32-item 'Resilience Scale for Nurses' (RSN) was administered to 327 nurses employed at three psychiatric hospitals in Japan. For the purpose of evaluating the correlation of resilience with other measures, psychological scales relevant to the RSN were also employed, such as the 'Japanese Self-Esteem Scale', the 'Japanese Hardiness Scale 20', the 'Japanese version of the Beck Depression Inventory', and the 'Japanese version of Burnout Scale'.Results: A total of 313 nurses responded to the questionnaire (95.7% response rate). The principal factor method suggested a three-factor solution, consisting of 'Positivity in nursing', 'Interpersonal skills', and 'Adaptability in the workplace'. The levels of Cronbach's alpha for the overall RSN (.74) as well as each of the three factors (.64; .63; .61, respectively) were respectable. Positive correlations of the RSN were found with the Self-Esteem Scale (.38; p<.01) and the Hardiness Personality Scale (.47 and .27; p<.01), and negative correlations of the RSN were found with the Beck Depression Inventory (-.26; p<.01) and the Burnout Scale (-.31, -.27 and -.30; p<.01). Conclusions:The levels of Cronbach's alpha supported the internal consistency reliability of the RSN. All of the three factors reflected characteristics of resilience as had already been indicated by the previous studies, supporting the construct validity of the RSN. Significant correlations of the RSN with well-established measures of mental health provided evidence for the two hypotheses.

High resilience leads to better work performance in nurses: Evidence from South Asia

“…Therefore, as most of the health care systems in the world strive to provide good quality health care to their citizens, resilience at work is one of the attributes that can effectively be utilized to achieve it. It has dual benefits: preventing the negative outcomes of work stress such as burn out (Gito et al, ; Mak & Wong, ; Mealer et al, ) and at the same time harnessing the positive outcomes. The RAW scale can be used as a tool to identify the at‐risk nurses in this regard or in quantifying the hospital services and quality of nurse training.…”

“…preventing the negative outcomes of work stress such as burn out (Gito et al, 2013;Mak & Wong, 2011;Mealer et al, 2012) and at the same time harnessing the positive outcomes. The RAW scale can be used as a tool to identify the at-risk nurses in this regard or in quantifying the hospital services and quality of nurse training.…”

“…During last few years, evidence has increasingly accumulated on the impact of work resilience on reducing the negative outcomes of workplace, such as stress, burnout, depression and anxiety (Gito, Ihara, & Ogata, 2013;Mak & Wong, 2011;Mealer et al, 2012). However, only a limited number of studies were found in the literature, which investigated the association between high resilience and positive outcomes including better work performance, job satisfaction and low absenteeism (Brown, 2016;Luthans, Avey, Avolio & Peterson, 2010;Kappagoda, Othman, & Alwis, 2014).…”

Mental Health of Nurses Working at a Government-designated Hospital During a MERS-CoV Outbreak: A Cross-sectional Study

“…Hardiness has been characterized by the following personality disposition: "persons high in hardiness involve themselves in whatever they are doing (commitment), believe and act as if they can influence the events forming their lives (control), and consider change to be not only normal but also a stimulus to development (challenge)" (Kobasa, Maddi, & Zola, 1983, p. 42). Previous studies have found, hardy nurses to have better mental health (Gito, Ihara, & Ogata, 2013;Woo & Suh, 2008), and that hardiness is inversely related to stress (McCalister, Dolbier, Webster, Mallon, & Steinhardt, 2006;Soderstrom, Dolbier, Leiferman, & Steinhardt, 2000). It might therefore also be conjectured that the personal characteristic of hardiness influences mental health directly and also indirectly via stress.…”

Investigation of the Relationship Between Nurses’ Burnout and Psychological Resilience Levels

“…MBS was set on a 5-point Likert scale, in the order of (0) never, (1) seldom, (2) sometimes, (3) frequently and (4) always. In detail, MBS is calculated by the sum of scores for 22 items spanned across 3 subdimensions, namely, emotional burnout (items 1, 2, 3,6,8,13,14,16,20), desensitization (items 5, 10, 11, 15, 22) and personal success (items 4,7,9,12,17,18,19,21). Higher scores in "Emotional Burnout" and "Desensitization" subscales and a lower score in "Personal Success" subscale are clear indications of a high level of burnout.…”