Work-related stress and occupational burnout in AIDS caregivers: test of acoping model with nurses providing AIDS care

Occupational stress and burnout are potential threats to quality of care fo r people living with HIV/AIDS. A total of 445 nurses who provide care to pe ople living with HIV/AIDS responded to an anonymous postal survey that cons isted of demographic and work history questions, the Maslach Burnout Invent ory, Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control scale, and internal and ex ternal coping styles as measured by the Ways of Coping scale. Path analyses showed that both external (13.6% of the variance) and internal (3.1% of th e variance) coping styles significantly predicted levels of burnout among A IDS caregivers, over and above participants' age, perceived workload and lo cus of control. Mediation analyses further showed that external coping medi ates the effect of locus of control on burnout, but internal coping styles do not exhibit mediation. Results therefore replicate and extend previous r esearch demonstrating the important roles of cognitive and behavioural copi ng styles in understanding burnout among providers of AIDS care.