The relationship between spiritual intelligence and burnout in nurses at Jahrom University of Medical Sciences-2018

Abstract

Introduction: Job burnout is a psychiatric syndrome that causes symptoms such as emotional exhaustion, loss of job satisfaction and dispossess of personality. Spiritual intelligence also includes a type of adaptation and problem-solving behavior that includes the highest levels of growth in different cognitive, ethical, emotional, and interpersonal areas, in order to coordinate the person with the surrounding phenomena and achieving the internal and external integrity. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between job burnout and spiritual intelligence of nurses.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that was conducted in 2017 in educational hospitals of Jahrom University of Medical Sciences. 100 nurses were selected randomly among all nurses who had at least 24 months of clinical work experience, had a bachelor's degree and with no known physical and psychological illness. The main instrument for collecting data was two questionnaires; which were completed by nurses in anonymous form after receiving written consent. Maslach Burnout Questionnaire (1985) has been used to measure job burnout. The questionnaire is a 22-item Likert questionnaire that has been compiled from two different dimensions from never to everyday and its severity is from very little to very much; it includes three components of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and inadequacy of a person. The formal and content validity of the instruments was examined by 5 university professors and its reliability was calculated by using Cronbach's alpha with the help of 10 nurses for emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal adequacy (0.94 _ 0.93_ 0.91), respectively. Spiritual intelligence questionnaire Abdollahzadeh was used to investigate spiritual intelligence. The formal and content validity was obtained with the help of five professors and its reliability was obtained 0.89 by using the Ray test. Data was analyzed by using SPSS19 software.

Results: By using linear regression, it was found that the whole average of spiritual intelligence could predict exhaustion (Sig: 0/03 and F :/080), depersonalization (Sig:0/03 F:.891), and individual adequacy (Sig: 0/013 and F : 2.307). Spiritual intelligence subgroups were able to predict emotional exhaustion (Sig:0/045 and 1.05 F :), depersonalization (Sig:0/0304 and F :1.614), and individual adequacy (Sig:0/02 and F1.545).The average score of total spiritual intelligence can predict the emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and individual adequacy variations. Also, sub-groups of spiritual intelligence could predict variations in emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and individual adequacy.
Conclusion: Spiritual intelligence has indirect relationship with job burnout so that people with the high spiritual intelligence have better performance and lower job burnout.

Keywords: Nurses- Spiritual Intelligence - burnout