Objective: To explore the influence of negative psychology and burnout in clinical nurses, and to analyse the mediating role between self-efficacy and emotional intelligence in emotion management.
Methods: From January 2022 to December 2022, 12,704 clinical nurses from 32 general hospitals in Hunan Province were selected as research participants by convenience sampling. Negative psychology, emotion management, self-efficacy, emotional intelligence and burnout in clinical nurses were measured, and structural equation models were constructed to explore their impact on burnout in clinical nurses.
Results: Clinical nurses’ negative psychology had a positive effect on burnout (β =0.60, 95% CI: 0.63– 0.66), emotional intelligence (β =˗0.08, 95% CI: ˗0.10, ˗0.06) and the self-efficacy of emotion management (β =− 0.60, 95% CI: ˗0.05, ˗0.03) on burnout. Moreover, emotional intelligence and emotion management self-efficacy played a mediating role between negative psychology and burnout in nurses.
Conclusion: Clinical nurses’ negative psychology had a positive impact on burnout, and emotional intelligence and the self-efficacy of emotion management could alleviate the influence of negative psychology on burnout among nurses. Nurses’ emotional intelligence and emotion management self-efficacy can be improved through practical training to help them cope with emotionally loaded situations and reduce stress responses.
Keywords: clinical nurse, job burnout, negative psychology, emotional management self-efficacy, emotional intelligence