The relationship of burnout, stress, and hardiness in nurses in a military medical center: a replicated descriptive study.

The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine whether the personality trait of hardiness is a predictor of burnout and whether it can buffer the effect of stress on burnout. Forty-nine registered nurses working in 7 special care units completed the Tedium Burnout Scale, the Nursing Stress Scale, and the Hardiness Test. Results indicate that burnout, stress, and hardiness had a significant relationship (P < .001). Hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that hardiness alone accounted for 35% of burnout variance (P < .05) and that the addition of stress had no effect. A previous study reported that burn unit nurses had the least burnout and greatest hardiness. However, in this study, nurses from the Burn Intensive Care Unit had the highest burnout and stress scores and the lowest hardiness scores of nurses from the 7 units. This study confirms findings by a previous study that hardiness is a predictor of burnout but is not a buffer in the stress-burnout relationship. To further understand burnout and hardiness, longitudinal and multisite studies that include burn units are recommended.