Association Between Overcommitment and Burnout Among Temporary Agency Nurses in Acute Care

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between burnout dimensions and overcommitment among temporary agency nurses. METHODS: An online survey of 74 participants (48.6% male, 51.4% female) was conducted using the Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey (MBI-GS) and the overcommitment (OC) subscale of the Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) questionnaire. Participants were classified as OC <15 (n=42) or OC ≥15 (critical OC; n=32). RESULTS: Nurses with critical OC reported significantly higher exhaustion, cynicism, and burnout total scores. Burnout symptoms or burnout risk occurred significantly more often in the critical OC group. OC was positively correlated with exhaustion, cynicism, and burnout total score. CONCLUSIONS: High overcommitment is associated with increased exhaustion, cynicism, and burnout risk among temporary agency nurses. Further studies are needed to evaluate the potential relevance of OC for burnout prevention.