Employer-provided wellbeing support for nurses working in intensive care units: A national cross-sectional study

IF 2.6 3区医学 Q2 CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE

Australian Critical Care Pub Date : 2025-02-10 DOI:10.1016/j.aucc.2025.101200

Yuzi Zhou RN, MAdvN , Pauline Wong RN, PhD , Angelique Clarke RN, MN (critical care) , Rebecca J. Jarden RN, PhD , Wendy Pollock RN, PhD, RM, FACCCN

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Intensive care units are characterised as high-stress work environments that may negatively affect nurses’ wellbeing. Employer-provided support has a crucial role in reducing burnout and improving wellbeing.

Objective

The aim of this study was to examine wellbeing supports routinely offered by employers of nurses working in intensive care units and examine the relationships amongst perceived organisational support, wellbeing, and burnout.

Methods

A cross-sectional study of nurses working in Australian intensive care units was conducted from 4 to 19 September 2023. A web-based survey was distributed via the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses and social media, with snowball sampling. Validated tools for perceived organisational support, subjective wellbeing, and burnout were used.

Results

Of 668 responses, 632 met inclusion criteria for analysis (94.6%). Education and training were the most common supports recognised by nurses (63.4%, n = 401). The most helpful support was childcare assistance (M = 3.17, standard deviation [SD] = 1.38). Higher levels of perceived organisational support were associated with better subjective wellbeing (r = 0.20; p < 0.001). Perceived organisational support was higher for nurses without burnout (M = 4.15, SD = 0.89) than for those with burnout (M = 3.64, SD = 0.85; t [625] = 7.43, p < 0.001, two-tailed). For every one-point increase in the mean value of perceived organisational support, nurses were 56% less likely to report experiencing burnout than those who perceived lower organisational support (B = −0.81, p < 0.001, odds ratio = 0.44, 95% confidence interval: 0.35–0.56). The strongest predictor of reporting burnout was engaging in an education/clinical support job role (B = 0.88, p = 0.04, odds ratio = 2.41, 95% confidence interval: 1.04–5.60).

Conclusions

Nurses working in Australian intensive care units perceived employer-provided wellbeing support to be inadequate. Perceived organisational support is a modifiable independent predictor of burnout, suggesting that employers need to work with nurses to improve wellbeing supports.

Registration

Not registered.

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来源期刊

Australian Critical Care NURSING-NURSING

CiteScore

4.90

自引率

9.10%

发文量

148

审稿时长

>12 weeks

期刊介绍： Australian Critical Care is the official journal of the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses (ACCCN). It is a bi-monthly peer-reviewed journal, providing clinically relevant research, reviews and articles of interest to the critical care community. Australian Critical Care publishes peer-reviewed scholarly papers that report research findings, research-based reviews, discussion papers and commentaries which are of interest to an international readership of critical care practitioners, educators, administrators and researchers. Interprofessional articles are welcomed.