Affective states and stress in health-professional caregivers of people with functional diversity: the important role of empathy and social support as mediators of this relationship.

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyse how empathy and social support mediate levels of perceived and relational stress, depending on the person's type of affect.

Methods: This was a multicentre, cross-sectional, descriptive study. The sample consisted of 756 working health professionals for people with functional diversity in the province of Valencia. The following scales were analysed: (i) Perceived Stress Scale; (ii) The Nurse Stress Scale; (iii): Empathy Quotient (EQ); (iv) Social Support Questionnaire, and (v) Scale of Positive and Negative Affects. Descriptive statistics, reliability tests, comparison of means, correlation coefficients and PROCESS were performed.

Results: The findings showed that stress was positively correlated with negative affects, and negatively correlated with empathy, social support and positive affects, and that these variables influence perceived stress, significantly reducing its levels, while the effect of these variables on relational stress was not significant.

Conclusion: The data obtained highlights the importance of empathy and a good social support network in these professionals and how this will influence the care and relationship with the users.