Perceived Leadership Styles of Physicians-in-Charge and Occupational Burnout among Public Health Nurses in Selected Community Health Centers in Manila: A Descriptive-Correlational Study
Jaia Yvette Zamora *
Far Eastern University, Manila, Philippines.
Emy Loilo
Far Eastern University, Manila, Philippines.
Francisco Obmerga
Far Eastern University, Manila, Philippines.
Leslie Ann Sioson
Far Eastern University, Manila, Philippines.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Background: Burnout is an occupational phenomenon associated with chronic workplace stress and is commonly reflected in exhaustion, depersonalization or mental distance, and reduced professional efficacy. Public health nurses may be exposed to burnout-related risks because of community-based service demands, high patient contact, administrative responsibilities, and resource constraints. Leadership is one organizational factor that may shape nurses’ workplace experience, but evidence from Philippine public health settings remains limited.
Objective: This study examined the association between public health nurses’ perceptions of Physicians-in-Charge leadership styles and occupational burnout dimensions in selected community health centers in Manila.
Methods: A quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional descriptive-correlational design was used. The analytic sample comprised 82 public health nurses from selected community health centers across Manila. Leadership style was assessed using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire framework, and burnout was assessed using Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey dimensions. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to examine associations between transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership and burnout-related outcomes. This revised version reports exact p values and 95% confidence intervals recalculated from the reported correlations and sample size.
Results: Transformational leadership showed a weak positive association with emotional exhaustion (r = .22, p = .047) and a moderate positive association with personal accomplishment (r = .51, p < .001), but it was not significantly associated with depersonalization (r = -.06, p = .592). Transactional leadership was not significantly associated with emotional exhaustion or depersonalization but was strongly associated with personal accomplishment (r = .61, p < .001). Laissez-faire leadership showed weak positive associations with depersonalization (r = .24, p = .030), personal accomplishment (r = .39, p < .001), and the originally computed burnout index (r = .29, p = .008). After a conservative Bonferroni correction for 12 correlations, only the stronger associations with personal accomplishment and selected overall burnout-index associations remained statistically robust.
Conclusion: The findings suggest that perceived leadership style is associated with selected burnout-related dimensions among the sampled public health nurses. However, the cross-sectional, self-report, purposive-sampling design prevents causal interpretation.
Keywords: Transformational leadership, transactional leadership, laissez-faire leadership, occupational burnout, public health nurses, physician-in-charge