Thesis

connected to higher levels of burnout. That no connection what so ever was found between
burnout and hours worked per week in the present study, is not in line with the majority of
previous research. It would be interesting to conduct the present study again with the same
countries but possibly with other nursing wards, and also with two other countries in order to
see if such a connection could be found then. In any case, it is important to conduct more
research in this area in order to see if the present study’s results could be confirmed or
disconfirmed. Also, when conducting future research in this area it has to be recommended
that the working hours should be controlled for so that the distribution of working hours per
week should be equal. Like this, more valid and reliable comparisons can be made between
samples.
5.8. SUMMARY
To be able to get a good overview of the present study, a summary was decided to be written
at the end of this chapter. The present study has contributed with both positive and negative
findings in the area of burnout. Some of the findings could be supported by previous research
in a certain the area and others not. Some of the topics in this study was shown to be
somewhat groundbreaking and has not been studied as much as other areas included in the
present study. With regards to burnout between the nations it was shown that the burnout of
the Hungarian nurses was higher than for the Swedish nurses. This result was inline with the
first hypothesis and explained by looking at the historical background of the two countries.
Looking at burnout and the work-related stress, it was shown that the Hungarian nurses
experienced more work stress in general than the Swedish nurses and thus the first part of the
second hypothesis was not supported. Regarding the second part of the second hypothesis, it
was partly supported since the assumed work stress factors for each sample could be
significantly related to burnout, however the ones not assumed in the hypothesis could also be
significantly related to burnout in each sample. Previous research has looked into this area to a
high degree and many of the specific work related factors related to burnout in this study,
have been looked into and connected to burnout by previous researchers as well. With regards
to burnout and life satisfaction, this study showed that life satisfaction was higher in the
Swedish sample than in the Hungarian sample and could thus confirm the first part of the third
hypothesis. The second part of the third hypothesis could not be supported since it was shown
that life satisfaction did not have any influence on burnout. Life satisfaction is and has been