The relationship between emotional labor, job stress and job satisfaction in midwifery

Context: Midwives provide intensive emotional labor for women and their families during periods of emotional changes, such as pregnancy and childbirth.
Aims: The relationship between midwives’ job stress, job satisfaction, and emotional labor was investigated.
Setting and Design: This cross‑sectional study included 198 midwives from public hospital in Turkey in 2019
Material and Methods: In this study, 198 participants were selected through simple random sampling. The data collection tools used were a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Emotional Labor Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Scale.
Statistical Analysis Used: Descriptive data are presented as mean, standard deviation, number, and percentage. In the statistical analysis of the data, an independent sample t‑test, multiple regression analysis, and Pearson correlation analysis were used.
Results: In the multiple regression analysis, there was a significantly negative correlation (β

: −0.144, P = 0.025) between the surface acting subscale of emotional labor and job satisfaction, a positive correlation with deep acting (β

: 0.148, P = 0.038), a positive correlation with emotional effort (β

: 0.371, P < 0.025), a negative and significant relationship with a lack of staff (β

: −0.227, P < 0.001) and a positive correlation with the number of patients (β

: 0.244, P < 0.001). In addition, there was a positive and significant relationship with deep acting, a positive and significant relationship with perceived stress (β

: 0.146, P = 0.036), a positive and significant relationship with surface acting (β

: 0.246, P = 0.001) and a positive and significant relationship with emotional effort (β

: 0.358, P < 0.001). There was a statistically significant positive correlation between the emotional effort and deep acting (β

: 0.415, P = 0.001) and surface acting (β

: 0.317, P = 0.001) scores.
Conclusions: It was found that the emotional labor subscales affect each other, and a positive correlation between surface acting, deep acting, and emotional effort was found. A slightly positive and significant correlation between emotional effort and job satisfaction was found. A positive correlation was found between surface acting and perceived stress.