Emotional Intelligence, Emotional Labor and Burnout of Clinical Nurse

Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive research study is to understand and determine emotional intelligence, emotional labor and burnout of clinical nurses and to identify the relationships among them and then the usablity of emotional intelligence in nursing organizations. Population of the study is a 201 women of nurses and charge nurses working for one general hospital located in Gyeonggi-do during September 19 to September 27, 2012. Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale developed by Wong and Law (2002) was adopt as a research tool of emotional intelligence which was adapted by Hyeon-woo Jeong (2007) and a tool of emotional labor developed by Min-zoo Kim(1998) on the basis of the study by Morris and Feldman (1996) and Maslach Burnout Inventory of Maslach and Jackson(1981) was selected as a tool of burnout which was adapted by Hye-yun Choi(2002). The collected data was analyzed by SPSS win 18.0 program for descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Schéffe test, partial correlation coefficient. The results of this study are as follows. A score of Emotional intelligence of the participants was average 4.56 points out of 7 and when seeing by subcomponents, emotional understanding oneself was 4.90 points, emotional understanding of others was 4.82 points, a use of sensibility was 4.46 points and emotional control was 4.07 points in order of a score. Emotional labor of the participants was on average 3.31 points out of 5 and when seeing by subcomponents the attention of emotion expressions was 3.49 points, frequency of emotion expressions was 3.41 points and emotional disharmony was 3.03 points in order. Burnout of the participants was on average 3.63 points out of 6, and seeing by subcomponents emotional exhaustion 3.88 points, the decrease of a sense of achievement was 3.80 points and depersonalization was 2.92 points in order. When seeing in the difference of degrees of emotional intelligence by general characteristics of the participants, the difference of the nursing satisfaction scores was significant and it was statistically significant. Seeing in emotional labor, the difference among the his degrees by general characteristics of the participants was not statistically significant, and according to the working departments and nursing satisfaction, the degree of their burnout was different and the difference was statistically significant. After adjusting for nursing satisfaction, the result of analysis of partial correlation between emotional intelligence, emotional labor and burnout is that emotional intelligence and emotional labor showed a negative correlation, emotional labor and burnout showed a positive correlation. However, the relationship between emotional intelligence and burnout of the participants was not statistically significant. This study found that emotional intelligence of clinical nurses reduce emotional labor and emotional labor increased the burnout. To reduce burnout of clinical nurses an intervention of decreasing the emotional labor should be found and the use of emotional intelligence is expected to decrease emotional labor. To do this, nurses will require the development of intervention programs to improve the emotional intelligence of nurses.

본 연구는 임상간호사의 감성지능, 감정노동과 소진을 파악하고 이들 간의 관계를 확인하여 간호조직에서 감성지능의 활용가능성을 파악하기위한 서술적 조사연구이다. 이를 위해 2012년 9월 19일부터 9월 27일까지 경기도에 위치한 일 종합병원에 근무하는 일반간호사와 책임간호사 중 여성 201명을 대상으로 하였다. 연구도구로 감성지능은 Wong과 Law(2002)이 개발한 Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale를 정현우(2007)가 번안한 도구를 사용하였고, 감정노동은 Morris와 Feldman(1996)의 연구를 기초로 김민주(1998)가 개발한 도구를 사용하였으며, 소진은 Maslach와 Jackson(1981)이 개발한 Maslach Burnout Inventory를 최혜윤(2002)이 번안한 도구를 사용하였다. 수집된 자료는 SPSS win 18.0 프로그램을 이용하여 기술통계, t-test, ANOVA, Schéffe test, partial correlation coefficient로 분석하였다. 본 연구결과는 다음과 같다. 대상자의 감성지능은 평균 7점 만점에 4.56점으로 하위 구성요소별로 보면 자기감성이해 4.90점, 타인감성이해 4.82점, 감성활용 4.46점, 감성조절 4.07점 순이었다. 대상자의 감정노동은 평균 5점 만점에 3.31점으로 하위 구성요소별로 보면 감정표현의 주의정도 3.49점, 감정표현의 빈도 3.41점, 감정적 부조화 3.03점 순이었다. 대상자의 소진은 평균 6점 만점에 3.63점이며 하위 구성별로 보면 정서적 고갈 3.88점, 성취감 저하 3.80점, 비인격화 2.92점 순으로 나타났다. 대상자의 일반적 특성에 따른 감성지능의 정도 차이에서는 간호직 만족도에 따른 점수 차이가 유의하였으며 그 차이는 통계적으로 유의하였다. 감정노동의 경우 대상자의 일반적 특성에 따른 정도 차이는 통계적으로 유의하지 않았으며, 소진에서는 근무부서와 간호직 만족도에 따라 대상자의 소진정도에 차이가 있었으며 그 차이는 통계적으로 유의하였다. 간호직 만족도를 보정한 후 감성지능, 감정노동과 소진간의 편상관관계를 분석한 결과 감성지능과 감정노동은 부적 상관관계를 보였고, 감정노동과 소진은 정적 상관관계를 보였다. 그러나 대상자의 감성지능과 소진의 관계는 통계적으로 유의하지 않았다. 본 연구를 통하여 임상간호사의 감성지능은 감정노동을 감소시키고 감정노동은 소진을 증가시키는 것으로 밝혀졌다. 임상간호사의 소진을 감소시키기 위해서는 감정노동을 줄일 수 있는 중재방안을 찾아야 하며, 감성지능의 활용으로 감정노동을 줄일 수 있을 것으로 기대된다. 그러기 위해 간호사의 감성지능을 향상시킬 수 있는 중재프로그램의 개발이 요구된다.