The Effect of Nurses' Perceived Social Support on Job Burnout: The Mediating Role of Psychological Detachment

AIMS: To investigate the impacts of social support and psychological detachment on nurses' job burnout, as well as to validate psychological detachment's mediating effect. DESIGN: The study was conducted using a questionnaire-based cross-sectional design. METHODS: From October 2023 to March 2024, convenience sampling was used to distribute electronic questionnaires (including a general information questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Psychological Detachment Scale, and the Social Support Scale) to investigate the current state of job burnout, psychological detachment, and social support among nurses. A total of 325 nurses were included in the study. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 29.0 software and the SPSS Process 4.1 plug-in. RESULTS: Results showed that both social support and psychological detachment were negatively correlated with job burnout. Excluding general demographic characteristics, social support was negatively associated with job burnout through psychological detachment, where psychological detachment mediated social support and emotionally exhausting job burnout with a mediating effect of 8.93%. CONCLUSION: Nurses' job burnout can be mitigated by both social support and psychological detachment, with psychological detachment acting as a mediation of the effect of social support. IMPACT: Nursing managers should take measures to enhance the social support of nurses appropriately. At the same time, it is necessary to arrange work reasonably and establish a solid communication mechanism to improve nurses' psychological detachment and reduce nurses' job burnout. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: No patient or public involvement.