Meta Analysis of Variables related to Emotional Labor of Hospital Nurses

Kim, Jong Kyung; Kim, Jung Hee

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to use meta-analysis to evaluate factors and variables related to the emotional labor of hospital nurses.
METHODS
The study included variables obtained from 66 recently published studies, doctoral dissertations, and master's theses.
RESULTS
The related variables were categorized into five factor groups: internal character factor, nursing care related factor, environmental factor, emotional response, and job response. For the defensive variable, job related response (effect size [ES]=-.17), environment (ES=-.14), internal character (ES=-.08), nursing care (ES=-.06), and emotional response (ES=-.06) showed significant effect size among the five categorized variable groups. For the risk variable, internal character (ES=.44), emotional response (ES= .46), environment (ES=.27), job related response (ES=.27), and nursing care (ES=.19) showed significant effect size among the five categorized variable groups.
CONCLUSION
The results of this study identified defensive and risk variables related to emotional labor of hospital nurses. Self-efficacy, social support, leaders' care, and communication are important factors for managing emotional labor of hospital nurses.