Introduction: In the post-pandemic era, nurses are frontline workers directly involved in patient treatment and care. They may encounter serious psychological and mental problems, which can lead to emotional exhaustion. Yet, researchers have investigated the relationship between psychological capital and emotional exhaustion using total scores. Network analysis studies on psychological capital and emotional exhaustion in nurses during the post-epidemic period are lacking, which can deeply reveal the complex relationship between variables and provide a more comprehensive and accurate perspective for us to understand the interaction mechanism between these two variables. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from December 2022 to January 2023 on 1185 frontline clinical nurses from 5 hospitals in Xi’an, China. The clinical nurses were selected using the convenience sample approach through online platforms upon the notice of hospital administrators. Psychological capital and emotional exhaustion were assessed using the Psychological Capital Questionnaire and the Chinese Maslach Burnout Inventory (CMBI). Network analyses were used for the statistical analysis. Results: From a network analysis perspective, “I feel exhausted” (Q3) and “I am optimistic about the future of my job” (X22) have the highest expected influence, suggesting their most significance in the network. In the community of emotional exhaustion, the statement “I feel very tired” (Q1) has the highest bridge expected influence, while in the community of psychological capital, the statement “When I have a setback at work, I have a hard time recovering from it ” (X13) has the highest bridge expected influence, indicating they have the strongest connections with the other community. Conclusion: Complex patterns of relationships emerged between psychological capital and emotional exhaustion. These results have significant implications for clinical practice in the post-epidemic era. Stress management workshops with relaxation techniques and training on building psychological capital, including cultivating optimism and providing resilience training, could be implemented.
Wu et al. (Sun,) studied this question.