Effects of Balint group intervention on occupational burnout of primary care physicians

Abstract

Objective To examine the effects of participating in Balint group (PBG) for reducing occupational burnout among primary care physicians (PCPs). Methods In this randomized controlled trial, 240 PCPs were randomly assigned to PBG (n=70) and control group (n=240) in propotion of 1∶2.Subjects of PBG received Balint group intervention for one year, while control group received natural observation.Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was used to assess the severity of occupational burnout. Results At baseline all three subscales of MBI had no significant difference between PBG and cotrol group(P>0.05). After the intervention, PBG had statistically lower subscale scores in emotional exhaustion ((20.1±8.3) vs (22.6±8.7), t=1.993, P=0.048) and depersonalization ((6.8±4.9) vs (10.8±5.2), t=5.355, P<0.001) than the control group, while had statistically higher score in personal accomplishment subscale((38.3±7.5) vs (34.6±7.7), t=3.311, P=0.001) than the control group. Conclusions PBG is effective in reducing occupational burnout among PCPs. Key words: Primary health care doctors; Balint group; Randomized controlled study; Occupational burnout