A Study on the Comparison of Burnout Syndrome, Among Medical Doctors in the Restive Areas and Non-Restive Areas of the South Thailand Insurgency

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to compare burnout syndrome as well as the associated factors among doctors, who work at, secondary and tertiary-care hospitals either: in the restive areas of Thailand’s southern insurgency, and the nonrestive areas of nearby provinces.Material and Methods: This was a cross-sectional designed study, which was conducted in order to survey all doctors, who worked at hospitals, located in lower, southern Thailand from; January to April 2018. The questionnaire used; The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) Thai version questionnaire. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics. The factors associated with burnout syndrome were analyzed by using chi-square test and logistic regression.Results: The total number of participants were; 245 medical doctors. Fifty-eight percent of them were females, whilst 42.0% were males, and most of them were single (50.2%). The mean age of the participants was; 35.9 years, and 30.2% of them worked more than 40 hours per week. The total prevalence of Burnout syndrome among them was; 99.6%, with the highest score found to be in the emotional exhaustion section. There were no differences in burnout syndrome between, those who worked in restive areas and those who worked in non-restive areas of Thailand’s southern insurgency, grade point average (GPA), perceived sleep/rest quality and perceived work stress were related to emotional exhaustion, while types of specialty, work hour/week and family relationships were associated with depersonalization. The sample size was not adequate for the personal accomplishment part analysis.Conclusion: Almost all medical doctors, who worked at either secondary or tertiary-care hospitals in the lower, southern areas of Thailand, suffered from burnout, only 1 physician did not. The factors associated to burnout syndrome are; work hours per week, GPA, type of specialty, perception of sleeping/rest quality, perception of having stress from work and family relationships.