The role of personality, empathy, and the perception of the instructor's caring on nursing students' burnout: A cross-sectional study

Aim: The present study aimed to evaluate the contribution of personality, empathy, and the perception of instructor's caring in predicting burnout in nursing students.

Background: Burnout is alarmingly prevalent and rising among nursing students. Furthering our understanding of individual and clinical environmental antecedents of burnout is crucial to shield nursing students' well-being during their training.

Methods: In a cross-sectional study design, the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI), the Brief version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (BIRI), the Nursing Students' Perception of Instructor Caring (NSPIC), and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) were administered to 361 (83.9 % females) Italian nursing students between July and December 2021. t-Tests, analyses of variance, Pearson's correlations, and hierarchical regressions were performed to examine the association of CBI with socio-demographics, TIPI, BIRI, and NSPIC.

Results: Being female and having a low household income were predictors of Personal Burnout and Work-related Burnout. Personal Burnout was positively associated with TIPI-Neuroticism and BIRI-Personal Distress. Work-related Burnout was positively associated with BIRI-Personal Distress and NSPIC-Control, and negatively associated TIPI-Openness to Experience, NSPIC-Support, NSPIC-Confidence. Client-related Burnout was negatively associated with TIPI-Agreeableness, NSPIC-Support, NSPIC-Confidence. Beyond the effect of socio-demographics, TIPI, and BIRI, NSPIC subscales significantly contributed to the explained variance in CBI scores.

Conclusions: Sex, household income, personality, and empathy should be considered when designing interventions to decrease burnout in nursing students. Promoting caring relationships between clinical instructors and their pupils may contribute to reduce nursing students' burnout.