Type A behaviour as a predictor of burnout and job satisfaction in intensive care units nurses

Background: Working at intensive care unit (ICU) is one of the most difficult and taxing nursing specialties. It demands not only extensive knowledge and professional skills but also specific personality-temperamental dispositions. The aim of the study was to verify if type A behavior (TAB) is a predictor of burnout and job satisfaction in ICU nurses and if this effect still exists after controlling for selected demographic and job characteristics. Material and Methods: The study group consisted of 99 nurses (77 women), aged 24–58 (mean (M) = 32.33; standard deviation (SD) = 8.81) working at ICU. The following tools were used: to measure TAB – Type A Behavior Survey BWZ by Wrzesniewski; job burnout – the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory OLBI by Demerouti et al.; and job satisfaction – the Job Satisfaction Scale by Zalewska. Results: The results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that after controlling for selected demographic and job characteristics, tendency for aggression was a predictor of higher exhaustion, disengagement and lower job satisfaction. Achievement striving and tendency to dominate were related to higher job satisfaction and lower exhaustion, respectively. Significant predictors of professional functioning were also: duty work system, place of living and gender. Conclusions: The results of the study confirmed that all 3 content features of TAB were significant predictors of job functioning of ICU nurses. They also indicate that considering TAB in the context of individual adjustment to the environment of the job at ICU would be a valuable direction for future research. Med. Pr. 2015;66(2):213–224