Putting Work on Hold: The Impact of Team-Level Agreements on Telepressure and Psychological Detachment Among Nurses

Abstract

Nurses are under strain. Telepressure, the urge to respond to work-related messages after working hours, exacerbates this. Nurses are contacted daily after working hours to fill in or shift schedules. As a result, nurses are constantly connected to their work and their team. This makes it difficult for them to psychologically detach. Previous studies on telepressure conclude with the recommendation to establish clear norms and agreements at the team level for sending and receiving work-related messages outside working hours. However, this has not been systematically studied. This study examines if team-level agreements indeed have an impact on the level of telepressure and psychological detachment among nurses. A survey (n=142) and qualitative focus groups indicate that team-level agreements are negatively associated with telepressure and consequently, positively associated with psychological detachment. It is therefore crucial for nursing teams to convert unwritten rules and expectations into clear and explicit team-level agreements concerning work-related messages after the workday has ended.