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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Organizational Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1375022

The relationship between effort-reward imbalance and quality of working life among medical caregivers: Mediating effects of job burnout

Provisionally accepted
Huang Qi Huang Qi 1Sun Hongyan Sun Hongyan 2*He Song He Song 1*Zhou Zhihang Zhou Zhihang 1*Huang Ruiyin Huang Ruiyin 3*Ma Youjia Ma Youjia 1*Li Xia Li Xia 1*
  • 1 Second Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
  • 2 Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, China
  • 3 Songshan General Hospital, Chongqing, Chongqing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: To determine the relationship between effort-reward imbalance（ERI） and quality of working life(QWL) among medical caregivers and the mediating role of job burnout. Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey. A total of 787 medical caregivers at seven hospitals from Sichuan and Chongqing, China, between May to September 2023 were included in this observational study. The General Information Questionnaire, Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire (ERI), Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS), and Quality of Working Life Scale (QWL7-32) were used for data collection. SPSS 26.0 and PROCESSv3.3 were used for all data analyses, including descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 820 questionnaires were distributed, of which only 787 were valid (return rate; 95.98%). The QWL score of medical caregivers was 126.94±16.69. However, QWL scores were significantly different depending on age, number of children, family support status, department, years of experience, night shift status, number of night shifts per month, number of hours worked per day, monthly income, and occurrence of errors or adverse events (P<.05). Furthermore, job burnout and ERI were negatively correlated with QWL (P<.01). Job burnout mediated (95% CI=-.365, -.260) the relationship between ERI and QWL, accounting for 58.65% of the total effect. Conclusions: Medical caregivers have a medium level of QWL. Job burnout partially mediates the relationship between ERI and QWL. Medical caregiver managers can improve QWL by directly intervening in occupational stress and indirectly intervening in job burnout.

    Keywords: Medical caregiver, Effort-reward imbalance, Job burnout, quality of working life, mediating effects

    Received: 30 Jan 2024; Accepted: 10 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Qi, Hongyan, Song, Zhihang, Ruiyin, Youjia and Xia. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Sun Hongyan, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, China
    He Song, Second Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
    Zhou Zhihang, Second Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
    Huang Ruiyin, Songshan General Hospital, Chongqing, Chongqing, China
    Ma Youjia, Second Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
    Li Xia, Second Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.