ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Occupational Health and Safety
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1658020
This article is part of the Research TopicNurse Fatigue: Investigating Burnout, Health Risks, and Prevention StrategiesView all 9 articles
How Does Physical Activity Alleviate Nurse Job Burnout? The Important Role of Recovery Experiences
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shinhan University, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea
- 2Namseoul University, Cheonan-si, Republic of Korea
- 3Anqing Medical College, Anqing, China
- 4Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
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Background: In high-intensity work environments, nurses are significantly affected by job burnout. This study aims to explore the relationship between physical activity and nurses' job burnout, while examining the mediating role of recovery experiences. Method: Convenience sampling method was employed to recruit 912 nurses. Data were collected using the Physical Activity Rating Scale, Recovery Experience Questionnaire, and Job Burnout Inventory. Empirical analyses were conducted, and the bootstrapping method was applied to test the mediating effects of recovery experiences. Results: Physical activity significantly and negatively related nurses' job burnout (β = -0.554, p < 0.01). The mediating effects of psychological detachment (95% CI [ -0.217 ~ -0.168]), relaxation experience (95% CI [-0.081 ~ -0.045]), and mastery experience (95% CI [-0.228 ~ -0.177]) in the relationship between physical activity and job burnout were confirmed. However, the mediating effect of control experience (95% CI [-0.020 ~ 0.001]) was not statistically significant. Conclusion: This study identifies a significant negative association between physical activity and job burnout among nurses, and highlights the multidimensional contributions of recovery experiences to this association. The findings provide empirical evidence that may inform strategies for enhancing nurses' occupational health.
Keywords: physical activity, Job burnout, Recovery experience, Recovery activity, Nurse
Received: 02 Jul 2025; Accepted: 28 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Zhang, Zhao, Li and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Changzhou Chen, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
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