The relationship between perceived organizational support and burnout in newly graduated nurses from southwest China: the chain mediating roles of psychological capital and work engagement

Burnout affects the quality of work and health, increases the rate of turnover of newly graduated nurses, and leads to a shortage of nurse resources. Perceived organizational support (POS) can mitigate burnout, but the exact mechanism is unclear. The purpose of this study was to explore the mediating roles of psychological capital (PsyCap) and work engagement (WE) in the relationship between POS and burnout. This is a cross-sectional study. An anonymous investigation with a convenience sampling of nurses was conducted in Sichuan province, southwest China between October 2023 and November 2023. The Perceived Organizational Support Scale, Maslach's Burnout Inventory General Survey, the Psychological Capital questionnaire, and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale were used to collect data. SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 26.0 were applied for statistical analysis. A total of 995 newly graduated nurses participated in this study. The average burnout score of the nurses was 2.45 (1.06) and the incidence of burnout was 82.6%. Burnout was negatively correlated with POS (r=-0.624, p < 0.05), PsyCap (r = -0.685, p < 0.05) and WE (r = -0.638, p < 0.05). The total effect of POS on burnout (β = 0.553) consisted of a direct effect (β = 0.233) as well as an indirect effect (β = 0.320) mediated through PsyCap and WE. PsyCap and WE have a chain-mediated effect between the POS of newly graduated nurses and burnout (β = -0.056, Bootstrap 95% confidence interval (-0.008, -0.003), which represented 10.12% of the total effect. This study confirms that POS has a significant negative predictive effect on burnout. POS was first associated with a decrease in PsyCap, followed by a sequential decline in WE, which in turn was associated with an increase in burnout symptoms among newly graduated nurses. Hospital managers can reduce the levels of burnout of newly graduated nurses by increasing organizational support and improving PsyCap and WE.