The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between occupational stress, burnout and EI and to determine whether EI possibly might be a moderating variable in the stress and burnout relationship. In addition, a further objective was to explore which of the dimensions of occupational stress and EI accounts for the greatest variance in burnout. Hypotheses were proposed per construct and the relevant data analysis techniques, as discussed in chapter three, were employed. A number of analysis were done with regards to demographic variables such as access to own transport, level of education and income group, to determine whether any significant differences exist between groups regarding the various variables. The results of the data analysis will be reported next.
4.2 CORRELATION RESULTS
The first objective was to determine whether relationships exist between the three constructs: occupational stress (as measured by the General Work Stress scale of the SWSI), dimensions of burnout (as measured by the MBI) and the dimensions of EI (as measured by die SUEIT).
4.2.1 The relationship between EI and Occupational Stress
To determine the relationship between EI and Occupational Stress, it was proposed that, Hypothesis 1: A significant negative relationship will exist between the five dimensions of EI (Emotional Recognition and Expression; Understanding Emotions External; Emotional Management; Emotional Control and Emotion Direct Cognition) and the level of occupational stress (as measured by the General Work Stress Scale) experienced by individuals employed in the nursing profession.
Hypothesis 2: A significant negative relationship will exist between occupational stress (as measured by the General Work Stress scale) and total EI (composite score).
The relationship between the different variables was investigated through the calculation of the Pearson product-moment coefficient. The correlation between General Work Stress and the total EI score were also calculated. The results are presented in table 4.1. The results partly confirm the hypothesis and indicate that a moderate, but significant
relationship exist between Occupational Stress and Emotional Management [r = - .329, n = 122, p < .01] and a moderate, significant negative relationship also exist between Occupational Stress and Emotional Control [r = -.412, n = 122, p < .01]. These results indicate that where respondents report lower levels of Emotional Control and Emotional Management it is more than likely that they will report higher levels of occupational stress. These results suggest that an increase in the ability to manage positive and negative emotions as well as an increase in the ability to control strong emotions could have an impact on the level of reported stress. No significant relationship was found between Total EI and occupational Stress (as measured by the General Work Stress scale) and therefore hypothesis 2 is rejected.
Table 4.1 Correlations between General Work Stress (SWSI) and EI dimensions (SUEIT) Measure Sub-
dimensions GWS EREXP UEX EM EC EDC Tot EI
- -.230 .121 -.329** -.412** .009 -.156 SWSI GWS EI EREXP - .523** .475** .225* -.87 .722** UEX - .521** .352** -.105 .828** EM - .591** -.258** .770** EC - -.145 .622** EDC - .063 Tot EI -
N = 122; ** Correlation is significant at the .01 level (two tailed); * Correlation is significant at the .05 level (two tailed)
EREXP = Emotional Recognition and Expression; UEX = Understanding Emotions Externally; EM = Emotional Management; EC = Emotional Control; EDC = Emotions Direct Cognition; Total EI = Tot EI; GWS = General Work Stress
4.2.2 The relationship between the dimensions of burnout and occupational stress In order to explore the relationships between the burnout dimensions and occupational stress the following hypotheses were formulated.
Hypothesis 3: A significant positive relationship will exist between occupational stress (as measured by the General Work Stress scale) and Emotional Exhaustion (as a dimension of burnout).
Hypothesis 4: A significant positive relationship will exist between occupational stress (as measured by the General Work Stress scale) and Depersonalisation (as a dimension of burnout).
Hypothesis 5: A significant negative relationship will exist between occupational stress (as measured by the General Work Stress scale) and Personal Accomplishment (as a dimension of burnout).
To investigate the hypotheses, Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated. The results of these correlations are summarised in table 4.2. There was quite a strong, significant statistical relationship between the Emotional Exhaustion dimension of burnout and General Work Stress [r =.679, n = 122, p < .01]. This suggests that respondents, who reported a high level of Emotional Exhaustion, are likely to report a high level of general work stress. These results are in line with those reported by Pelzer et al. (2003) in their study exploring occupational stress and burnout in medical practitioners in South Africa, who found that occupational stress strongly predicted Emotional Exhaustion. Furthermore, a significant moderate correlation was found between Depersonalisation (as a dimension of Burnout) and General Work Stress [r = .354, n = 122, p < .01], suggesting that individuals who report higher scores on depersonalisation would be most likely to report higher scores on occupational stress in this study. Previous research have indicated strong correlations between the Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalisation as dimensions of burnout (Maslach et al., 1997), thus, the above could imply that individuals who report high levels of work stress would then also be likely to experience negative feelings of detachment to other people, which could possibly develop as a response to Emotional Exhaustion. The results of this study confirmed the notion that Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalisation are strongly related as 30% of the variance was shared,
[r = .550, n = 122, p < .01], indicating that respondents reporting high levels of emotional exhaustion, would most likely also report high levels of depersonalisation. Hypotheses 3 and 4 are therefore accepted.
It was hypothesised that a significant negative relationship will exist between the General Work Stress scale and the third dimension of burnout, Personal Accomplishment. The results indicated that a relationship existed, but it was not found to be statistically significant. The hypothesis 5 is therefore rejected.
Measure Sub - dimensions EE DP PA GWS Burnout EE - .550** .201 .679** - .116* .354** DP PA - .141 - Occupational Stress GWS
TABLE 4.2 Correlations between Burnout dimensions (MBI) and General Work Stress (SWSI)
N = 122; ** Correlation is significant at the .01 level (two tailed); * Correlation is significant at the .05 level (two tailed)
EE = Emotional Exhaustion; DP = Depersonalisation; RPA = Personal Accomplishment; GWS – General Work Stress
4.2.3 The relationship between the dimensions of burnout and the dimensions of EI In this section the results of the hypotheses proposed in terms of the relationship between the Burnout and EI sub - dimensions is presented. It was hypothesised that,
Hypothesis 6: A significant negative relationship will exist between Emotional Exhaustion (as a dimension of burnout) and the dimensions of EI (Emotional Recognition and Expression; Understanding Emotions External; Emotional Management; Emotional Control and Emotion Direct Cognition).
Hypothesis 7: A significant negative relationship will exist between Depersonalisation (as