Korean J Occup Health Nurs.  2025 Nov;34(4):235-243. 10.5807/kjohn.2025.34.4.235.

The Relationship between Post-Traumatic Stress and Sleep Quality among Emergency Nurses: The Mediating Effect of Burnout

• Lee JA
• Lee EJ

• KMID: 2574770
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5807/kjohn.2025.34.4.235

Abstract

Purpose
This study aimed to examine the effect of post-traumatic stress on sleep quality and identify the mediating role of burnout in this relationship.
Methods
The participants were 150 emergency nurses working at general hospitals located in B and C city, Republic of Korea. Data were collected through an online survey conducted from May to July 2024 using structured questionnaires assessing post-traumatic stress, burnout, and sleep quality. Data were analyzed using SPSS/WIN ver. 26.0 to perform descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation coefficients, and PROCESS macro Model 4.
Results
Sleep quality had significant positive correlations with post-traumatic stress (r=.43, p<.001) and burnout (r=.57, p<.001), indicating that higher levels of post-traumatic stress and burnout were associated with poorer sleep quality. In addition, burnout had a significant positive correlation with post-traumatic stress (r=.57, p<.001). A partial mediating effect of burnout was identified in the relationship between post-traumatic stress and sleep quality, with an explanatory power of 35.1% (R² =.35).
Conclusion
This study found that higher levels of post-traumatic stress not only directly reduced sleep quality but also indirectly worsened it through increasing burnout. These results suggest that post-traumatic stress and burnout are interrelated factors that jointly and negatively affect the sleep of emergency nurses.

Keyword

Burnout; Emergency nursing; Sleep quality; Stress disorders; Post-traumatic stress