Burn-out, emotional labour and psychological resilience among gastroenterology nurses during COVID-19: a cross-sectional study

Objectives To investigate the relationship between burn-out, emotional labour and psychological resilience of gastroenterology nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic and explore the factors associated with these specific variables. Design A multicentre cross-sectional study with anonymous self-reporting was conducted from 24 November 2021 to 26 December 2021. Setting The study was conducted in Fujian Province, China. Participants The participants were 345 gastroenterology nurses from 7 tertiary hospitals. Primary and secondary outcome measures Burn-out, emotional labour and psychological resilience were the primary outcome measures. Using a convenience sampling method, the data were collected using Questionnaire Star (a tool for questionnaire surveys) via WeChat. The Chinese version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Chinese version of the Emotional Labour Scale and the Chinese version of the Psychological Resilience Scale were used to evaluate burn-out, emotional labour and psychological resilience, respectively. Results The total scores for burn-out, emotional labour and psychological resilience in gastroenterology nurses were 53.07±19.63, 38.79±12.22 and 69.97±22.38, respectively, with less use of deep acting and more use of surface acting. Pearson correlation analysis showed that burn-out was positively correlated with two dimensions of emotional labour; surface acting and emotional expression, and negatively correlated with deep acting. There was a negative correlation between emotional labour and all three dimensions of psychological resilience. Conclusions Greater adoption of deep acting by nurses can be promoted by improving their psychological resilience during events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which can help improve emotional labour, thereby reducing burn-out and decreasing turnover rates. Senior management in hospitals must pay attention to nurses’ psychological status. Further interventional studies could be conducted in the future to explore relevant measures.