title: Burnout of female and male nurses in shiftwork.
abstract: Burnout and psychological stress of nurses in two- and three-shift work was analysed. The study concerned 124 mental health nurses and 162 nurses of mentally handicapped persons; half of the nurses were women. Fifty-two per cent were in three-shift work and the other half worked in two shifts. The Maslach Burnout Inventory was used as a measure of burnout. The inventory has three categories: psychological fatigue; loss of enjoyment of work; and (attitudinal) hardening. Female nurses in three-shift work reported more stress symptoms and had ceased to enjoy their work more often than women in two-shift work. Psychological fatigue and hardening were not dependent on the shift system. Male nurses experienced the same amount of burnout and stress in two- and three-shift work. Besides shiftwork, occupational demands and passive stress coping strategies contributed to the experience of burnout and stress. Family demands did not correlate with burnout of the nurses.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Occupational Health, Department of Psychology, Vantaa, Finland.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kandolin
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000523:psychology*; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology* / Q000592:standards; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D014940:Work Schedule Tolerance