Aging and Burnout for Nurses in an Acute Care Setting: The First Wave of COVID-19

Margaret E. Beier (), Mona Cockerham, Sandy Branson and Lisa Boss
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Margaret E. Beier: Department of Psychological Sciences, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA
Mona Cockerham: School of Nursing, Sam Houston State University, The Woodlands, TX 77380, USA
Sandy Branson: Cizik School of Nursing, The University of Texas Health Science Center, UT-Health, Houston, TX 77355, USA
Lisa Boss: School of Nursing, Tarleton State University, Fort Worth, TX 76402, USA

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 8, 1-20

Abstract: We examined the relationship between age, coping, and burnout during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic with nurses in Texas (N = 376). Nurses were recruited through a professional association and snowball sampling methodology for the cross-sectional survey study. Framed in lifespan development theories, we expected that nurse age and experience would be positively correlated with positive coping strategies (e.g., getting emotional support from others) and negatively correlated with negative coping strategies (e.g., drinking and drug use). We also expected age to be negatively related to the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization facets of burnout and positively related to the personal accomplishment facet of burnout. Findings were largely supported in that age was positively associated with positive coping and personal accomplishment and age and experience were negatively correlated with negative coping and depersonalization. Age was not, however, associated with emotional exhaustion. Mediation models further suggest that coping explains some of the effect of age on burnout. A theoretical extension of lifespan development models into an extreme environment and practical implications for coping in these environments are discussed.

Keywords: aging; COVID; burnout; coping; nurse (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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