Indicators of technostress, their association with burnout and the moderating role of support offers among nurses in German hospitals: a cross-sectional study

Objectives To examine the level of indicators of
technostress among nurses with and without a
leadership position, the relationship between indicators
of technostress and burnout and the moderating role of
support offered by employers. The availability of support
offers and further needs of nurses were also explored.
Design Cross-sectional online survey.
Setting Acute care hospitals in Germany.
Participants 303 nurses (73.3% female) who have
worked at the hospital for at least 1 year and a minimum
of 10 hours per week.
Primary and secondary outcome measures Indicators
of technostress (complexity, overload, usefulness, lack of
technical support and unreliability) served as predictors
in multiple linear regression analyses to examine their
association with the primary outcome burnout. Support
of employers was included as a moderator variable.
Validated subscales from the Digital Stressors Scale and
Copenhagen Burnout Inventory as well as open-ended
questions were applied.
Results There were no differences in the level of
indicators of technostress found between nurses with and
without a leadership position. Techno-overload (β=0.259,
p=0.004) and techno-complexity (β=0.161, p=0.043)
were significantly associated with burnout. Support
by the employer moderated the relationship between
lack of technical support and burnout significantly (R²
change=0.026, F(1,292)=7.41, p=0.007). Support offers
such as training, IT service and contact persons on the
ward helped nurses to be more confident in the use of
information and communication technologies. However,
they expressed further needs with regard to these and new
offers.
Conclusions There was an association between two
indicators of technostress and burnout. Therefore, particular
attention should be paid to supporting nurses in terms of
techno-overload and techno-complexity. Furthermore, there
is still a need for customised support and further offers from
employers in the use of digital technologies.