Coping Strategies and Burnout Among Medical and Social Workers Providing Services to People with Limited Mobility

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. The centerpiece of the development of occupational burnout is the individual’s ability to cope with stressful situations. AIM. To determine ways to cope with stress among employees of healthcare organizations and social service institutions providing services to low-mobility population groups, as well as to assess the correlations between individual coping strategies and burnout symptoms. MATERIALS AND METHODS. The study involved 81 employees of healthcare organizations (group 1) and 88 employees of a social service institution (group 2). We used COPE (Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory) questionnaire adapted by T.O. Gordeeva et al. to determine ways of coping with stress; Maslach Burnout Questionnaire adapted by N.E. Vodopyanova to determine symptoms of occupational burnout. RESULTS. Employees of a social service institution more often than the staff of healthcare organizations had high levels of coping strategies: positive reformulation and personal growth (in 80.7 % and 60.5 % respectively, p = 0.002), active coping (in 76.1 % and 58 %, p = 0.012), planning (in 76.1 % and 53.1 %, p = 0.002). At the same time group 1 representatives 2.1 times more often than group 2 representatives had high values of the integral index of occupational burnout: 50.6 % against 23.9 % (χ2 = 12.997, p 0.001). DISCUSSION. Ineffective coping-strategies, correlating with the levels of occupational burnout symptoms, appeared to be concentration on emotions and their active expression, mental disengagement from the problem, behavioural disengagement from the problem, and denial. Among the effective ones are active coping, planning, positive reformulation and personal growth. CONCLUSION. Burnout symptoms were more frequent in the surveyed sample of the healthcare workers than in the workers of social service institutions and were associated with insufficiently active use of effective ways of coping with stress.