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Stress Resistance Strategies

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The Organizational Context of Nursing Practice

Abstract

The psychological syndrome of burnout is of key importance to nurse managers, given that it is a widespread problem, with anywhere from 10–78% of European and American nurses considering themselves to be “burned out.” Reviewing the literature on the consequences of burnout for individual nurses, patients, teams, and healthcare organizations, it is evident that burnout has a prominent concern for the nursing profession.

One of the most comprehensive models that describes the development of burnout is the vulnerability-stress model. This model addresses the interactions between various factors that render individuals susceptible to burnout and various situational stressors; it implies an inverse relationship between these two types of influences.

Numerous studies have described vulnerability and situational risk factors for burnout independently. However, even though vulnerability and stressors can be considered to be conceptually distinct constructs, their ability to predict burnout is limited when examined in isolation of each other.

Considering the wide array of consequences of burnout and the long period from onset of stressors to emergence of the syndrome, prevention is an appropriate goal. Preventive measures should include joint individual and organizational interventions to effectively reduce stress and burnout and increase resilience in healthcare workers. Additionally, preventive measures should reflect the complexity of this syndrome, be well-thought out, and devote special attention to the discrepancy between individual and situational factors. Well-designed, multicomponent prevention programs show promise in reducing burnout and its negative consequences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Expertise Psychological Wellbeing in Patient Care, Karel De Grote University College, Antwerp, Belgium

    Nina Geuens

  2. Nursing and Midwifery Sciences and Centre, Research and Innovation in Care (CRIC), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    Nina Geuens, Erik Franck & Peter Van Bogaert

  3. Karel De Grote University College, Antwerp, Belgium

    Erik Franck

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  1. Nina Geuens
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  2. Erik Franck
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Correspondence to Nina Geuens .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Nursing and Midwifery Sciences, Centre for Research and Innovation in Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    Peter Van Bogaert

  2. William F. Connell School of Nursing, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA

    Sean Clarke

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Geuens, N., Franck, E., Van Bogaert, P. (2018). Stress Resistance Strategies. In: Van Bogaert, P., Clarke, S. (eds) The Organizational Context of Nursing Practice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71042-6_13

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