Words on fire: Nurses’ communication attitudes in the burnout equation

Nursing professionals are exposed to stressful situations. One of them could be related to how they communicate with patients and their families. However, literature on the role of communication in occupational stress is scarce. There seems to be no consensus as to whether communication is a job demand, a consequence of stress or could even act as a mediator between the stress process. The aim of this study was to discuss the role of attitudes towards communication with the patient in the stress process in nurses. The sample consisted of 193 nurses recruited from four public hospitals in the Valencian Community. They were previously informed about the aim of the study. Job demands and resources, burnout and attitudes towards communication with the patient were evaluated with the UNIPSICO Battery, Burnout Syndrome Evaluation Questionnaire (CESQT) and the reduced version of the Attitudes Towards Communication Questionnaire (ACO-R), respectively. Three hypothesized models were evaluated with PLS-SEM. The results of the analysis showed that attitudes towards communication did not influence burnout. Nor did they mediate the stress process. Attitudes towards communication were a consequence of burnout caused by the imbalance between job demands and resources. Thus, when nurses suffer from burnout due to exposure to poor working conditions, their attitudes towards communication may deteriorate.