The Effect of Spirituality on Nursing Burnout
Purpose: Although there has been considerable research related to the impact of spirituality on the health of patients, limited research has been done focusing on the impact of spirituality on the nursing profession. The nursing shortage is having a profound impact on the profession of nursing in general. Burnout is one of the biggest causes for nurses leaving the profession. Stress is a factor in burnout and ways of reducing and managing stress need to be evaluated. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a correlation between nursing burnout and the spirituality of nurses. Method: A cluster random stratified sampling was used to select 250 registered nurses to receive a mailed survey. Additional surveys were generated by internet using Surveymonkey through nursing organizations. 1 he survey consisted of a combination of the Spiritual Index of Well-Being (SIWB) and the Burnout Self-Check Tool. The results were entered into the Statistical Package tor the Social Sciences (SPSS) program and analyzed for relationships. Results: After approximately 3 months SO paper surveys were returned and 46 internet surveys were completed. Various data points were considered while analyzing the results. The correlation between SIWB and Burnout Self Check was -.643. Conclusion: There is a strong negative correlation between nursing burnout and spirituality. Finding w ays to help strengthen spiritual strength of nurses may improve the burnout rate.
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