How nursing staffs deal with burnout syndrome through job satisfaction and self-efficacy: the fight or flight mechanism

Abstract

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the psyche nursing staff might suffer from burnout syndrome. This subsequently leads to decreased working performance which might compromise the quality of care. Nurses experience depersonalization.

Objective: The study aimed to determine the effect of burnout syndrome on job satisfaction among nurses and how self-efficacy can solve the problem.

Materials and Methods: Mix method study was conducted among 79 nurses from October 2021 until February 2022. The quantitative data were collected using the Maslach Burnout Inventory questionnaire and Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire via proportional random sampling. The qualitative data were collected by thematic analysis to find out nurses’ self-efficacy during the pandemic.

Results: The results of the Spearman rank test prove a significant value (p)=0.004 with coefficient correlation (r)=-0,315. It means that burnout syndrome can affect job satisfaction negatively. Nurses should be skillful at conducting nursing care according to their assigned duties (performance outcome). Improving communication ability, especially the ability to utilize the local language. Mastering international languages might also help to cope with the market’s demand in the future (verbal persuasion). Nurses should be careful in perceiving the faced situation (observational learning) and try to think positively (emotional arousal).

Conclusion: The higher the level of job satisfaction, the lower the level of burnout syndrome. Therefore, nurses should improve their selfefficacy as they are the healthcare front liners during the pandemic. With better self-efficacy, the quality of care should improve as well.