A Communication Competence Approach to Examining Health Care Social Support, Stress, and Job Burnout

Drawing upon Kreps's (1988) Kreps, G. L. 1988. Relational communication in health care. Southern Speech Communication Journal, 53: 344–359. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar] Relational Health Communication Competence Model (RHCCM), this study examined the effect of perceived communication competence on perceived stress and subsequently perceived job burnout. In addition, the role of social support satisfaction as a potential mediator between perceived communication competence and perceived stress was explored. The extended RHCCM was proposed and tested in a survey of 221 health care workers from three Veterans Administration hospitals in the United States. The model was tested by structural equation modeling. The results indicated support for the extended model. The implications of the findings for the extended RHCCM are discussed along with limitations of the study and directions for future research.