Shift work disorder, mental health and burnout among nurses: A cross-sectional study

Aim: The aim of the study was to examine the relationships among nurses' shift work disorder, mental health and burnout to inform efforts to alleviate shift work disorder.

Design: This cross-sectional study was conducted in China using a web-based platform for questionnaire.

Methods: The study was comprised of a convenience sample of 1,268 Registered Nurses from 21 public hospitals in mainland China from June 2019-July 2019. Participants completed a web-based survey designed to collect demographic and other self-reported data. An independent sample t test and Pearson correlation were performed to analyse the relationship between shift work disorder, mental health and burnout.

Results: The vast majority (98.2%) of the participants were women between the ages of 20-59 years. The participants exhibited a higher incidence of mental health problems (58.1%) and burnout (65.5%) and those with shift work disorder exhibited a higher risk of mental health problems and burnout than those who did not have shift work disorder. Our research demonstrated that shift work disorder, combined with other variables, accounted for 40.5% of the variance in mental health (R² = .405, adjusted R² = .401, F = 107.214, p < .001) and 36.5% in burnout (R² = .365, adjusted R² = .361, F = 90.323, p < .001). Moreover, burnout negatively regulated the relationship between shift work disorder and mental health.

Conclusion: High-risk nurses with shift work disorder were at a much higher risk of mental health problems and burnout.