The interplay of attachment avoidance and anxiety in affecting nurse's caregiving style and emotional exhaustion

Aim of this work is to study the causal connections among different psychological dimensions that affect the relationships between nurses and patients. The data come from a survey involving nurses working in north-eastern Italy. The variables considered were anxious and avoidant attachment styles, self-efficacy in emotions regulation, professional self-efficacy, positive/negative representation of caregiving, emotional exhaustion, and affective commitment to the hospital. These latent variables were measured using the Partial Credit Model, which belongs to the Item Response Theory approach to latent variables. The obtained measures became the input of the analysis of causal relations between these variables which ended with the proposal of a causal model. The model highlights how well-being or discomfort may influence nurses’ perception of their relationship to patients. Results could be useful in order to provide training and/or other forms of support, to promote the quality of the health service.