Burnout as a mediator of the interrelations between emotional intelligence and stress coping strategies in nurses

The research focuses on the questions of if nurses working in various health care facilities present different abilities for emotional adaptation to the work environment, if they differ in feeling job related burnout, and what stress coping strategies they tend to employ. The Questionnaire of Emotional Intelligence (INTE), Link Burnout Questionnaire (LBQ), and the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) were administered. The study comprised 104 nurses from various health care facilities located within 7 voivodships (Polish provincial administrative divisions). This included three groups of different types of work: general care, specialized medical care, and units providing care for patients at a high risk of dying. A statistical analysis was performed with IBM SPSS Statistic 24. A regression analysis of the interface between emotional intelligence and stress-coping strategies showed that a high degree of emotional intelligence fostered a strategy of task-avoidance coping, and diminished the tendency to concentrate on emotions during stressful situations, it also minimized the propensity of the individual to reduce stress by distracting themselves with other activities. However, the mediation analysis revealed that the impact of emotional intelligence decreased after the role of occupational burnout was taken into consideration. This finding suggests that it is rather the occupational burnout that limits the possibility to apply effective stress coping strategies and that stress management does not reduce the risk of burnout. The study indicated the significant role of emotional intelligence: as a higher level of this form of intelligence corresponded with a lower feeling of burnout in all its dimensions. The mediation analysis revealed that it is the occurrence of burnout that plays the most significant role in adjustment to the work environment. This finding suggests that the prevention of burnout is the most effective factor enabling productive work, and the maintenance of psychological wellbeing despite the many job stressors which may occur in the workplace. It creates the need to clarify its links with depression in order to concentrate on a really effective treatment.