The relationship between psychosocial job stressors and insomnia: The mediating role of psychological capital

Abstract

This study explored the factors associated with nurses' psychological job stressors and insomnia. Some of the associated factors could be used for the prevention and mitigation of psychosocial dysfunction among nurses. This study found nurses in surgery, emergency department, ICU, working >40 h a week, with chronic illness, experiencing negative life events, shift work and high effort, high overcommitment and low reward had higher scores of insomnia respectively. The results of this study also showed that reward was correlated with the increase of psychological capital, and the increase of psychological capital was correlated with the decrease of insomnia in nurses. On the contrary, effort and overcommitment decreased psychological capital, and then increased insomnia among nurses. These findings have important implications for future research and policy interventions to improve sleep quality of nurses and enhance nurses' health and patients' safety. This study significantly suggests that improving nurses' psychological capital is a potential way to help nurses improve sleep quality when psychosocial job stressors are difficult external environment to change.