Influence of Emotional Labor, Empathy Competence and Communication Competence on Nursing Stress of the Aged with Cancer

초록

Aim(s): The purpose of this study was to investigate the levels of emotional labor, empathy competence, communication competence and geriatric nursing stress experienced by nurses caring for elderly patients in cancer hospitals, and to identify how emotional labor, empathy competence and communication competence affect geriatric nursing stress levels. Method(s): The subjects were 155 nurses with more than 6 months of experience at a cancer hospital located in Gyeonggi-do, and the data was collected using a questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, independent t-test and one-way ANOVA, Scheffe's test, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis. Result(s): The mean scores of geriatric nursing stress and emotional labor were 2.89±0.39 and 3.64±0.41 respectively. Empathy competence was 3.71±0.41 and communication competence was 3.60 ±0.43 on average. Geriatric nursing stress was significantly different by education (F=3.18, p=.026), marital status (t=2.65, p=.009), clinical experience (F=4.61, p=.004), and difficulties of the aged nursing (t=3.54, p=<.001). In multiple regression analysis, elderly nursing work (β=0.31, p=<.001), clinical experience (β=0.22, p=.004), and emotional labor (β=0.19, p=.016) were significantly affected geriatric nursing stress and those variables explained 15.1 percent of the variance (F=10.11, p=<.001). Conclusion(s): In conclusion, the emotional labor of nurses was identified as a major factor influencing the geriatric nursing stress. Therefore, it is needed that various efforts, including the development of policy alternatives and programs at the hospital level, are needed to reduce the emotional labor experienced by nurses in the field in order to reduce the stress level of nursing care for the geriatric.