Job Demands-Resources and Burnout in Nurses: The Moderating Role of Procrastination

Burnout is a work-related stress syndrome that has become a significant problem among health care providers. Burnout is associated with a decrease in occupational well-being and an increase in absenteeism and illness. In particular, nurses are vulnerable to exhaustion because of their job characteristics, such as unpredictability, overcrowding and continuous exposure to a broad range of diseases, injuries and traumatic events. This study aims to investigate the moderating role of procrastination on the relation between job demands and resources with burnout. In this regard, 152 nurses (65 male, 74 female) from seven hospitals, which were selected based on convenience, in Mashhad have participated in this study. They completed the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ), Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Service Survey (MBI-HSS) and Pure Procrastination Scale (PPS). The results indicate a statistically significant positive correlation between job demands and MBI scales. Also, a statistically significant negative correlation was obtained between job resources and MBI scales. These findings indicate that job demands promote chronic stress in nurses, while job resources protect them from burnout. Procrastination was also found to moderate the relation between some job resources and ineffectiveness. These findings show that a simple linear relationship between job demands-resources with exhaustion does not exist, and suggest personal demands, such as procrastination, as a moderator in this relationship. Incorporating own requests in burnout models is expected to enhance the current burnout prevention strategies.