Psychological Flexibility, Self-Compassion, Emotion Regulation and Occupational Stress of Nurses

Abstract

This study was conducted for the purpose of examining the relationship between psychological flexibility, self-compassion, emotion regulation, and occupational stress of nurses. A correlational cross-sectional research design was used in this study. A sample of nurses (N=366) both male (n=85) and female (n=281) lying in the age range of 19 to 55 years was selected using purposive sampling technique. Urdu translated versions of Psychological Flexibility Questionnaire, Self-Compassion Scale, Scale of Emotional Self-Regulation, and Subjective Job Stress Scale were used as measures of the study variables. The results of Pearson Product Moment Correlation showed significant positive relationships between psychological flexibility, self-compassion, and emotion regulation with each other. Moreover, a significant negative relationship emerged between self-compassion and occupational stress, and between emotion regulation and occupational stress. No significant relationship was found between psychological flexibility and occupational stress. The results of Serial Mediation Analysis showed that self-compassion and emotion regulation serve as serial mediators in the relationship between psychological flexibility and occupational stress. On group differences, male nurses scored higher in the characterization of self as flexible (subscale of psychological flexibility) while female nurses scored higher in isolation (subscale of self-compassion). Except that, no significant gender based differences were found on the variables of psychological flexibility, self-compassion, emotion regulation, and occupational stress. For age, the younger group of nurses (19 to 24 years) scored higher in psychological flexibility, emotion regulation and some subscales including characterization of self as open and innovative and conscientiousness. For work duration, nurses who worked for shorter work duration scored higher in psychological flexibility, emotion regulation, and their subscales including positive perception of change, characterization of self as open and innovative, perception of reality as dynamic, perception of reality as multifaceted, emotional reactivity and conscientiousness. Nurses who worked for longer work durations scored higher in isolation (subscale of self-compassion). Lastly, for the work shift, nurses who worked in day shift were found to be more psychologically flexible, and scored higher in its subscales of ‘perception of reality as dynamic’ and ‘characterization of self as flexible’.