DIFFERENCES IN BURNOUT, WORK DEMANDS AND TEAM WORK BETWEEN CROATIAN AND MACEDONIAN HOSPITAL NURSES

Abstract

This study was conducted in 2011 in two hospitals from Croatia and Macedonia to examine: differences in burnout, work demands, and team work between Croatian (n=138) and Macedonian (n=185) nurses; associations between work demands, team work, and burnout; moderation effect of team work on the relationship between emotional demands and depersonalization in Croatian nurses, and separate moderation effects of emotional demands and team work on the relationship between age and depersonalization in Macedonian nurses. Burnout, work demands, and team work were measured with Maslach Burnout Inventory, Hospital Experience Scale, and Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture, respectively. In order to examine the role of work demands and team work, a hierarchical multiple regression models were tested for emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. We also fit regression models predicting burnout dimensions from both predictor and moderator variables. Croatian nurses reported higher levels of depersonalization, organizational and emotional work demands, while Macedonian nurses reported higher levels of physical work demands and team work. Emotional work demands predicted increased emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, while team work negatively predicted emotional exhaustion and depersonalization in both groups. Team work showed a buffering effect on the development of depersonalisation via emotional demands (in Croatian nurses) or through aging (in Macedonian nurses). In Macedonian nurses emotional demands showed an enhancing effect on the development of depersonalization via aging. Actual study fills the gap in knowledge about burnout in nurses from different South-eastern Europe countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Kosovo, Moldova, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Turkey) and confirms the need for balanced job demands-resources interaction in order to prevent burnout in hospital nurses.