The Combined Moderating Effects of Coworker Support and Occupational Coping Self-Efficacy on the Relationship Between Mistreatment by Patients and Burnout

ABSTRACT

Following exposure to workplace violence, coworkers can often be an important source of support for healthcare professionals. There is evidence to suggest that social support may not always be beneficial, even when it is provided by close others. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the moderating effect of coworker support on the relationship between mistreatment and burnout is contingent upon occupational coping self-efficacy beliefs. Sample included 105 nurses from various hospitals and healthcare centers; and a sample of 234 healthcare professionals employed at a mental health hospital. Self-reported, anonymous questionnaires were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. Tthe more frequently employees experience mistreatment from patients or their relatives, the more likely they are to experience emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Results lend support to the existence of a three-way interaction between interpersonal mistreatment, coworker support and occupational coping self-efficacy in the prediction of emotional exhaustion. An increase in support received by coworkers strengthened the effect of mistreatment on emotional exhaustion among low self-efficacy individuals. Results also showed that the combination of high self-efficacy and low coworker support could be equally harmful in terms of energy-depleting consequences.

KEYWORDS:

• Mistreatment
• burnout
• coworker support
• self-efficacy
• health care

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank all participants for their cooperation

Disclosure of Interest

The author reports no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Standards and Informed Consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation [institutional and national] and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Both studies obtained approval from the Ethics Committee of the Emek Yezreel College, Israel (Ethics Reference No. 2015-31 EMEK and 2014-28 EMEK). Study 2 also obtained ethical approval from the Helsinki Committee of the participating hospital (Protocol No. 2-2-14).