The Relationship between Emotional Incompatibility and Health Symptoms with the Mediating Role of Job Burnout and Interpersonal Stress among Female Nurses Working in Several Military Hospitals in Tehran, Iran

In a healthy organization, the physical, mental and emotional health of employees is as important as productivity. In this study, the relationship between emotional incompatibility and health symptoms with the mediating role of job burnout and interpersonal stress was investigated among female nurses working in military hospitals in Tehran, Iran.

This descriptive-correlational study was performed among female nurses working in three military hospitals in Tehran in 2008. A total of 214 female nurses were randomly enrolled in the study using the convenience cluster sampling method. Four questionnaires of job burnout, general health, stress and interpersonal problems, and Sternberg incompatibility were used to collect data completed by nurses. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling by SmartPLS version 2 software.

Job burnout with a coefficient of determination equal to 0.945 had a positive and significant effect on health symptoms and interpersonal stress (P <0.05). Furthermore, emotional incompatibility had a significant effect on interpersonal stress (P <0.05), and as the path coefficient was positive, we can say with 95 percent confidence that the relationship between the two variables was positive and significant, and emotional incompatibilities were able to explain 67.3% of the changes in general health.

Emotional incompatibilities affect health symptoms with a mediating role of job burnout and interpersonal stress among female nurses working in military hospitals in Tehran. The results of the present study show the need to pay more attention to the mental health of nurses, especially female nurses working in military centers.