Burnout among oncology nurses: Influence of chronotype and sleep quality

Abstract

Objective: The study sought to clarify the impact of chronotype and sleep quality on feelings of personal, work-related, and client-related burnout among ambulatory care oncology nurses following regular dayshift work schedules.

Methods: 94 participants from two Toronto, ON hospitals took part. The Horne-Östberg Morningness Eveningness Questionnaire, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory were used to assess the impact of chronotype and sleep quality, together with subjective measures of job and place of employment satisfaction and work stressfulness on burnout.

Results: Findings showed that participants reporting greater tendency for evening-type or neither-type chronotype, and/or poor sleep quality had significantly higher levels of personal, work-related, and client-related burnout than individuals with either a morning tendency and/or good sleep quality. Work stressfulness also contributed to elevated burnout.

Conclusions: Working at one’s optimal time and obtaining good quality sleep contributes to decreased burnout. Future studies should take into account the effect of chronotype and sleep quality on mediating burnout among shift work oncology nurses. When creating nursing work schedules, employees’ chronotype and associated sleep quality should be considered to achieve decreased burnout, optimal performance, and potentially increased employee retention and patient care quality and satisfaction.