Nurse practice environment, workload, burnout, job outcomes, and quality of care in psychiatric hospitals: a structural equation model approach

Abstract

Aim: To study the relationships between nurse practice environment, workload, burnout, job outcomes and nurse-reported quality of care in psychiatric hospital staff.

Background: Nurses' practice environments in general hospitals have been extensively investigated. Potential variations across practice settings, for instance in psychiatric hospitals, have been much less studied.

Design: A cross-sectional design with a survey.

Method: A structural equation model previously tested in acute hospitals was evaluated using survey data from a sample of 357 registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and non-registered caregivers from two psychiatric hospitals in Belgium between December 2010-April 2011. The model included paths between practice environment dimensions and outcome variables, with burnout in a mediating position. A workload measure was also tested as a potential mediator between the practice environment and outcome variables.

Results: An improved model, slightly modified from the one validated earlier in samples of acute care nurses, was confirmed. This model explained 50% and 38% of the variance in job outcomes and nurse-reported quality of care respectively. In addition, workload was found to play a mediating role in accounting for job outcomes and significantly improved a model that ultimately explained 60% of the variance in these variables.

Conclusion: In psychiatric hospitals as in general hospitals, nurse-physician relationship and other organizational dimensions such as nursing and hospital management were closely associated with perceptions of workload and with burnout and job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and nurse-reported quality of care. Mechanisms linking key variables and differences across settings in these relationships merit attention by managers and researchers.