Relationship between Burnout and Communication Skill Training among Japanese Hospital Nurses : A Pilot Study

• Published in: Journal of Occupational Health Vol. 45; no. 3; pp. 185 - 190
• Main Authors: Shimizu, Takashi, Mizoue, Tetsuya, Kubota, Shinya, Mishima, Norio, Nagata, Shoji
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Australia JAPAN SOCIETY FOR OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH 01.05.2003
• Subjects: Adult; Assertiveness; Burnout; Burnout, Professional - epidemiology; Burnout, Professional - prevention & control; Communication; Communication skill; Female; Humans; Inservice Training; Japan - epidemiology; Male; Mental health; Nurses; Nurses - psychology; Occupational Health; Pilot Projects; Japan
• ISSN: 1341-9145; 1348-9585; 1348-9585
• DOI: 10.1539/joh.45.185

We investigated the relationship between burnout and communication skill training among Japanese hospital nurses to improve the mental health of human service workers. The subjects were forty-five registered nurses referred to a self-expression skill intervention program by their section superiors, with each superior choosing from two to five nurses. The hospital was located in the Kyushu area and staffed by about four hundred nurses. The subjects were divided into an intervention group (19 nurses) and a reference group (26 nurses). The intervention group received the communication skill training in July and August, 2001 . The communication skill training was carried out in accordance with the assertiveness training (AsT) precepts of Anne Dickson. In June, 2001, we delivered a set of questionnaires including age, gender, working years, a burnout scale, and a communication skill check-list as a baseline survey. The baseline questionnaires were returned at the end of June, 2001.