Managing the hidden burden: psychological safety as a strategic buffer between nurse mental workload and somatization.

IF 2.4 4区医学 Q3 HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES Journal of Health Organization and Management Pub Date : 2026-08-26 DOI:10.1108/JHOM-01-2026-0061

Fatma Demirkaya, Demet Yurtsever, Merve Murat Mehmed Ali, Merve Saritaş, Elvan Emine Ata

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Abstract

Purpose: This study examines the relationship between mental workload and somatization symptoms in nurses, focusing on the role of psychological safety as a mediating factor and investigates the role of psychological safety as a strategic resource in mitigating the negative physiological consequences of high cognitive demands in hospital management.

Design/methodology/approach: The study employed a cross-sectional, correlational research design. Data were collected from 422 nurses working at a public training and research hospital in Istanbul, Türkiye. The Mental Workload Scale, Psychological Safety Scale, and Somatization Scale were used in the study. Theoretical relationships were tested using the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework and analyzed using Hayes' PROCESS macro (Model 4) with 5.000 bootstrap resamples.

Findings: The results indicate that mental workload is a significant organizational stress factor positively associated with somatization. Psychological safety was found to statistically account for part of this relationship. Consistent with the JD-R framework, psychological safety appears to function as a resource associated with a weaker statistical association between mental workload and somatic tension.

Originality/value: This study contributes to the JD-R literature in two ways: Firstly, it focuses on somatization, a health outcome that has received limited attention in the field of nursing. Secondly, it empirically examines the mediating role of psychological safety in the process by which high mental workload is transformed into somatic symptoms.

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管理隐性负担：心理安全作为护士心理负荷和躯体化之间的战略缓冲。

目的：本研究探讨护士心理负荷与躯体化症状之间的关系，重点探讨心理安全作为中介因素的作用，并探讨心理安全作为一种策略资源在减轻医院管理中高认知需求的负面生理后果中的作用。设计/方法/方法：本研究采用横断面相关研究设计。数据收集自在土耳其伊斯坦布尔一家公立培训和研究医院工作的422名护士。研究采用心理负荷量表、心理安全量表和躯体化量表。使用工作需求-资源（JD-R）框架对理论关系进行检验，并使用Hayes' PROCESS宏（模型4）对5000个bootstrap样本进行分析。结果表明：心理负荷是组织应激的重要因素，与躯体化呈正相关。从统计上看，心理安全感是这种关系的一部分。与JD-R框架一致，心理安全似乎是一种与心理工作量和躯体紧张之间较弱的统计关联相关的资源。原创性/价值：本研究在两个方面对JD-R文献做出了贡献：首先，它关注躯体化，这是一种在护理领域受到有限关注的健康结果。其次，实证检验了心理安全在高精神负荷转化为躯体症状过程中的中介作用。

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来源期刊

Journal of Health Organization and Management HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES-

CiteScore

3.20

自引率

7.10%

发文量

期刊介绍： ■International health and international organizations ■Organisational behaviour, governance, management and leadership ■The inter-relationship of health and public sector services ■Theories and practices of management and leadership in health and related organizations ■Emotion in health care organizations ■Management education and training ■Industrial relations and human resource theory and management. As the demands on the health care industry both polarize and intensify, effective management of financial and human resources, the restructuring of organizations and the handling of market forces are increasingly important areas for the industry to address.