Relationship Between Self-Efficacy and Burnout Among Nurses in Behbahan City, Iran

Background: Burnout is a leading cause of physical and psychological injuries and evaluating the relationship between the self-efficacy and burnout of nurses could provide new knowledge on the organization of the subject. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between self-efficacy and burnout among nurses in Behbahan city, Iran, in 2014. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 151 nurses were randomly selected from 3 hospitals in Behbahan city proportionate to their staff number. Data were collected using the Maslach burnout and the Scherer self-efficacy questionnaires. Data were analyzed using ANOVA, t-test and Spearman correlation coefficient by SPSS software version 16. P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: From a total of 151 nurses, 39 cases were male and 112 were female. The mean age was 33.5 ± 8.7 years and the mean of self-efficacy was 60.89 ± 6.58. Most nurses had low burnout in the subscales of depersonalization (63.6%) and emotional exhaustion (64.2%); however, regarding lack of personal accomplishments most of them (65.6%) reported higher levels of burnout. The results also showed a significant and inverse difference between the self-efficacy and three dimensions of burnout, depersonalization (P < 0.001, r = -0.29), emotional exhaustion (P < 0.001, r = -0.49), and lack of personal accomplishments (P = 0.01, r = -0.26). Conclusions: The findings of the present study show that increasing self-efficacy among nurses can lead to a decrease in burnout in the subscales of depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and lack of personal accomplishment. Adopting strategies for increasing the self-efficacy would help reduce the burnout and increase motivation and satisfaction among nurses.