Abstract: Objective To explore the mediating effect between occupational stress and burnout in female nurses,so as to provide evidence for the intervention of occupational burnout. Methods From October 2020 to March 2022,convenience sampling and snowball method were used to select 922 female nurses from five tertiary general hospitals in Wuhan as the research objects. The Copenhagen burnout inventory（CBI）,the effort-reward imbalance（ERI）,the general self-efficacy scale（GSES） and the psychological contract scale were used for questionnaire survey and data analysis. Results A total of 922 subjects were included in the study. The score of job burnout was （57.23±12.34）points,and 36.30% of female nurses had high job burnout. The score of self-efficacy was （27.60±3.77）points,the score of psychological contract was （57.19±12.44）points,and the score of effort-reward imbalance was （1.11±3.24）points. Correlation analysis showed that job burnout was negatively correlated with self-efficacy and psychological contract（r=-0.355,-0.283,both P<0.01）,and positively correlated with effort-reward imbalance（r=0.085,P<0.01）. Path analysis showed that effort-reward imbalance could not only positively and directly predict job burnout,but also negatively predict job burnout through parallel mediation. The mediating effect included two paths：the mediating effect of effort-reward imbalance,self-efficacy and job burnout[β=0.79（95%CI：0.28-1.29,all P<0.01）,the proportion of effect=0.062],and the mediating effect of effort-reward imbalance-psychological contract-job burnout[β=2.01（95%CI：1.30-2.72,all P<0.01）,the proportion of effect=0.159]. Conclusions Female nurses in five comprehensive hospitals in Wuhan have serious job burnout. Self-efficacy and psychological contract play a partial mediating role between effort-reward imbalance and job burnout. The self-efficacy and psychological contract of female nurses should be improved to reduce the occurrence of job burnout.

Key words: Female nurses, Occupational burnout, Occupational stress, Self-efficacy, Psychological contract