The purpose of this study was to elucidate the stages of nurse burnout in hospitals (their states of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization) as well as factors related to the nurses personal characteristics and coping behaviors in order to obtain suggestions for stress and health management strategies that nurses themselves can employ. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study using anonymous self-administered questionnaires. The subjects were nurses employed at public hospitals with

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... beds in 3 cities in Hokkaido, Japan. The questionnaire items for burnout were those included on the Japanese Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), which are designed to ascertain the subjects' emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and sense of personal accomplishment. In addition, we used 11 items related to physical and mental stress responses on the Stress Coping Inventory and the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire to determine factors such as the nurses' basic attributes, whether or not they worked night shifts, and their overtime hours, etc. Results: We received responses from 1461 hospital nurses. Those whose scores for both emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were the mean or above were 40.2% of those in their twenties, 35.8% of those in their thirties, and 26.8% of those in their forties or older. The results of logistic regression analysis indicated that among those in the group that scored high for both emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, the influential factors were stress score (odds ratio 1.889), twenties age group (odds ratio 1.982), thirties age group (odds ratio 1.720), coping behavior: avoidance-focused behaviors (odds ratio 1.140), and engaged in childcare (odds ratio 0.487). Similarly, when looked at by age group, being in the twenties age group and having a spouse were influential factors (odds ratio 3.114 -4.171). Conclusion: The results of this study elucidated the fact that for hospital nurses, the burnout stage, age,