Mental health risks among nurses under abusive supervision: the moderating roles of job role ambiguity and patients’ lack of reciprocity

BACKGROUND: While the nursing profession has been associated with mental health problems and the research into the antecedents of mental health has steadily grown, the relationship between abusive supervision and mental health issues of anxiety and depression remains largely unknown. AIM: This study aims to examine the relationship between abusive supervision and mental health problems. And we also aim to investigate whether this relationship is moderated by role ambiguity and the patients’ lack of reciprocity. METHODS: A total of 227 frontline nurses from two public hospitals completed the survey questionnaire. RESULTS: (1) Abusive supervision was positively associated with poor mental health; (2) the positive relationship was moderated by nurses’ perceived role ambiguity in such a way that the relationship was stronger when the perceived role ambiguity is high; (3) the positive relationship was moderated by the patients’ lack of reciprocity in such a way that the relationship was stronger when patients’ lack of reciprocity was high. CONCLUSIONS: To conclude, the present study showed that abusive supervision was positively associated with mental health problems of anxiety and depression among samples of Chinese nurses. Findings of this study also highlighted that this relationship was contingent upon perceived role ambiguity and patients’ reciprocity.