The effect of professional values education on pediatric nurses' perception of professional values, emotional labor behavior, and burnout levels: A randomized controlled study

Aim: This study aims to examine the effects of professional values education on the perceptions of professional values, emotional labor behaviors, and burnout levels among pediatric nurses. Method: This research is a randomized controlled trial conducted from February 2024 to January 2025 at Isparta City Hospital. A total of 70 nurses (intervention:35, control: 35) working in pediatric clinics were enrolled in the study. The intervention consisted of a professional values education program, implemented in two phases: a preparation phase and an application phase. In the preparation phase, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to develop the educational content and materials. During the application phase, the prepared educational content was administered to the participants in the intervention group. Data were collected using a Demographic Information Form, the Professional Values Scale for Nurses, the Emotional Labor Behavior Scale for Nurses, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The data obtained were analyzed using SPSS version 27.0 (IBM Inc, Armonk, NY, USA). Results: Within the intervention group of nurses who received professional values education, the score on the "Professional Values Scale for Nurses" significantly increased from 89.68 ± 16.46 in the pre-test to 118.82 ± 9.48 in the post-test. The score for the superficial behavior subdimension of the "Emotional Labor Behavior Scale for Nurses" decreased from 22.22 ± 3.29 to 14.0 ± 4.15. Conversely, the scores for the deep behavior subdimension increased from 47.94 ± 7.27 to 57.62 ± 5.28, while the sincere behavior subdimension rose from 18.54 ± 2.83 to 23.05 ± 2.14. Furthermore, the score on the "Maslach Burnout Inventory" emotional exhaustion sub-dimension score decreased from 16.45±7.13 to 8.80±3.96, the depersonalization sub-dimension score decreased from 6.12±3.97 to 1.94±1.86. The personal accomplishment sub-dimension score increased from 19.62±3.14 to 26.25±2.57. A significant correlation was identified between perceptions of professional values, emotional labor behaviors, and professional burnout levels. Conclusion: The findings indicate that professional values education enhances pediatric nurses' perceptions of professional values, reduces superficial emotional labor behaviors, and increases deep and sincere emotional labor behaviors while concurrently decreasing burnout levels. ClinicalTrials.gov Protocol: NCT07016503 Keywords: Professional Values Education, Professional Values, Emotional Labor, Burnout, Pediatric Nursing