ArticleBMC nursing2026
Predictors of work engagement and burnout among rural nurses in Japan during COVID-19: a cross-sectional study.
Article in BMC nursing, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWork engagement and burnout are distinct psychological constructs, yet their coexistence under prolonged crisis conditions remains insufficiently examined, particularly in rural healthcare settings. This study investigated predictors of both work engagement and burnout among nurses in rural Japan during the later phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (July 2022).
methodsA cross-sectional paper-based survey was administered to all 560 nurses and midwives working at a rural university hospital. Missing data were minimal and handled using listwise deletion, resulting in a final analytical sample of 195 participants for regression analyses. Validated instruments assessed work engagement (UWES-3), burnout (BAT-J), job crafting (JCS-J), resilience (RS-14), and mental health (S-WHO-5-J). Hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses were conducted, with demographic variables entered first, followed by psychological variables and interaction terms to examine conditional associations with the COVID-19 care experience. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.
resultsWork engagement was positively associated with job crafting (β = 0.31, p < 0.001) and resilience (β = 0.29, p < 0.001). The COVID-19 care experience moderated these relationships, weakening the association between job crafting and work engagement (β = −0.20, p = 0.003) while strengthening the association between mental health and work engagement (β = 0.21, p = 0.002), indicating indirect and conditional pathways rather than direct effects. Burnout was negatively associated with mental health (β = −0.46, p < 0.001) and resilience (β = −0.18, p = 0.014) and was higher among unmarried nurses (β = 0.13, p =0.047). No interaction effects were observed for burnout. Work engagement and burnout showed a weak inverse correlation (r = − 0.28).
conclusionsThe psychological impact of COVID-19 varied by pandemic phase. In the later stage, the COVID-19 care experience was not directly associated with work engagement or burnout; however, it reconfigured how job and personal resources were linked to work engagement. Burnout was primarily linked to psychosocial factors rather than to the COVID-19 care experience. Sustaining nurse well-being during prolonged crises requires long-term organizational strategies that support job crafting, resilience, and accessible mental health care, with attention to regional and structural contexts, such as rural healthcare settings. CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: Not applicable.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.