Effects of Group Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy on the Nurses' Job Stress, Burnout, Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment and Turnover Intention

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a Group REBT program with group counseling for nurses and test the effect of group counseling on their job stress, burnout, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention. Methods: A quasi-experimental study with nonequivalent control group design was employed to identify the effect of the Group REBT program on nurses' job stress, burnout, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and tumover intention. Data were collected from 47 participants from two hospitals. The data from the experimental (n=23) and control (n=24) groups were analyzed from January 5 to April 3, 2015. The Group REBT program was conducted eight tmes in all, once a week, with each session lasting 180 minutes. The effect of experimental intervention was measured for each group using a series of structured questionnaires at each of the phases: Pre-intervention, post-intervention (immediately after intervention), and post-intervention (four weeks after intervention). Following this, the significance of the changes in the scores was tested. Results: The scores of the experimental group, which received the Group REBT program, were compared with those of the control group; the hypotheses were supported in terms of job stress (F=8.85, p<.001), burnout (F=5.62, p=.022), job satisfaction (F=2.70, p=.042), organizational commitment (F=2.97, p=.048), and turnover intention (F=4.60, p=.012). Conclusion: The Group REBT program was shown to be an effective intervention that could reduce nurses' job stress and burnout and increase job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Therefore, the Group REBT program can be adopted by nursing organizations to strategically decrease nurses' turnover intention.