La relazione con i pazienti in sanità: quali risorse lavorative per attenuare l’impatto degli stressor sociali?

National and international studies have highlighted that healthcare workers are increasingly facing episodes of verbal and physical violence. Empirical evidence supports the hypothesis that aggressive behaviors by patients can generate burnout processes. However few studies have investigated the workplace resources that can lessen the impact of such social stressor on the well-being of healthcare workers. We analyzed if and under what circumstances different types of resources ( colleagues’ support, managers’ support, leadership quality, decisional autonomy and job meaning) lessen the negative impact of verbal aggression on burnout and emotional well-being. This exploratory cross-sectional study was conducted on the healthcare workers of a surgery department (133 workers with a 67% response rate). Data was collected via a self-report questionnaire. A moderated stepwise regressions analysis highlighted that aggressive behaviors are important predictors of burnout and emotional well-being. The support of colleagues and managers, the quality of leadership and the attribution of meaning to one’s work moderate the negative impact on emotional exhaustion. Emotional well-being is shown to be moderated by colleagues’ support, by the quality of leadership and by the perception of decisional autonomy. In addition we found that the attribution of meaning to one’s work positively influences well-being in cases of highly aggressive patient behavior. The study highlights some socio-organizational factors that protect against social stressors tied to the interaction with patients in healthcare contexts.