Professional Burnout Syndrome in Health Personnel and Social Workers: a Comparative Questionnaire-Based Survey

Abstract

AIM. To perform the comparative assessment of the prevalence of professional burnout symptoms in health personnel and social workers providing services to persons with pronounced disabilities. MATERIAL AND METHODS. We conducted a survey of employees in two medical institutions (healthcare workers, Group 1, n = 86) and employees in a social service institution (social workers, Group 2, n = 89). The presence of professional burnout was established using Maslach Burnout Questionnaire adapted by N. Vodopyanova. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. Signs of professional burnout of different severity were found in 96,6 % of the respondents. High and extremely high levels of psychoemotional exhaustion, depersonalization, reduction of personal achievements were more frequent among health personnel than among social workers: 1,9 times (p = 0,012), 1,6 times (p = 0,033), 2,9 times (p = 0,029) respectively. At the same time, 31.4 % of Group 1 and 7.9 % of Group 2 respondents indicated overwork due to understaffing; 29.1 % and 10.1 %, respectively, indicated frequent need for additional work due to the temporary absence of colleagues. It explains higher levels of professional burnout among employees of medical institutions. At the same time, Group 2 was characterized by a younger age (by 6.5 years on average, p = 0.006) and a shorter work experience in the institution (by 10 years on average, p < 0.001) compared to Group 1, which may indicate both «staff turnover» among social workers and the appearance of conditions in the social service sphere attractive for younger age specialists. CONCLUSION. Health personnel have higher levels of the professional burnout symptoms more often than social workers, that is probably connected with an increased intensity of labour and overwork.