Jornal de Depressão e Ansiedade
Acesso livre

Abstrato

Children Lower the Probability of Burnout in Physicians

Nicole C. Buehrsch

Object: Burnout is an increasing problem, and specifically physician burnout is widely discussed as a serious risk factor for mental and physical health disorders. Therefore in this study we investigated the prevalence of burnout in a large population of university physicians regardless of individual medical specialisations and searched for preventive factors that may reduce the risk for burnout.

Methods:A total of 702 physicians aged 25-68 (mean 36 yrs of age) at a university hospital were examined using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Demographic data, increased workload during the past year, and the prevalence of sick leave due to stress as one additional indicator of burnout or moreover as a consequence of burnout symptomatology were collected by a computer-based online survey.

Results:Overall, 51.4% of physicians reported high emotional exhaustion (EE) and 53.8% reported high ratings of depersonalisation (DP) in spite of an overall high rate of personal accomplishment. Sick leave due to work overload was reported by 20.2%; Chi2 tests reveal that physicians with high values of EE (values above or equal to 27) or high scores of DP (values above or equal to 10) reported a significantly higher rate of sick leave. T-tests indicate that physicians with children showed significantly lower levels of EE and DP. However, subgroup analysis revealed that only male physicians with children demonstrated significantly lower levels of EE while females did not. DP values were again lower for male and female physicians with children.

Conclusion:Burnout is a very common phenomenon in academic hospitals and physicians without children are at the highest risk.