Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine burnout among psychiatric staff working at Roozbeh Hospital in Tehran , to compare its severity across different job positions, and to evaluate its relationship with some demographic and job-related variables.
Method: In this study, all clinical staff of the hospital who had face-to-face contact with patients were invited to participate. From the total of 165, 140 (84.8%) responded. Findings were collected using a questionnaire covering demographic and job related information, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI).
Results: From all the staff, 20.7% (n=29) suffered from emotional exhaustion, 9.3% (n=13) suffered from depersonalization, and 55% (n=77) suffered from decrease in personal accomplishment. In all these dimensions, burnout was higher among nurses and service staff when compared to psychiatric residents; this was statistically significant in emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment. Very severe burnout was observed only in nurses and service staff. Depersonalization and decreased personal accomplishment were higher in male sex and single marital status respectively. Emotional exhaustion was negatively associated with level of education and people with longer weekly work hours experienced higher depersonalization. All burnout dimensions were negatively associated with general health. In multivariate analysis only general health and job position were significantly associated with burnout.
Conclusion: A large proportion of clinical personnel working at Roozbeh Hospital suffer from severe burnout, especially in the form of severe decrease in personal accomplishment among nurses and service staff.
Type of Study:
Research |
Subject:
Special Received: 2005/08/14 | Accepted: 2005/10/24 | Published: 2005/12/22