Effects of stress on burnout among infection control nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic: the mediating effects of social support and self-efficacy

This study investigated the mediating effects of self-efficacy and social support on the relationship between stress and burnout among infection control nurses (ICNs) during an emerging infectious disease pandemic.

The study participants encompassed 210 ICNs with at least six months’ experience in an infection control unit at a general hospital in South Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were analyzed using independent t-tests or one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), while descriptive statistics were performed using SPSS/WIN 26.0 software. Hayes’s PROCESS macro 4.2 software was used to verify the significance of the indirect effects of the mediators.

Stress had a significant positive effect on burnout (β = 0.80, p < .001), accounting for 73% of the variance. Self-efficacy (β = − 0.26, p < .001) and social support (β = − 0.11, p = .034) had a significant negative effect on burnout, accounting for 78% of the variance. Stress was lower when self-efficacy and social support were entered into the model (β = 0.80 → 0.59), indicating that self-efficacy and social support mediated the relationship between stress and burnout.

This study is significant in that it confirms the effects of self-efficacy and social support on the relationship between stress and burnout among ICNs. The results highlight the importance of establishing organizational support systems and developing and implementing programs for enhancing self-efficacy in order to reduce burnout among ICNs.