GENDER BASED DIFFERENCES OF BURNOUT AMONG CLINICAL AND ACADEMIC PHYSICAL THERAPISTS

Abstract

Background: Burnout can develop due to various risk factors including socio-economic, conventional and personal, for both men and women. Some studies suggest increased prevalence of burnout in female individuals, which may be due to actual aspects like how the assessment tools are used or the way burnout manifests in both genders, including levels of emotional exhaustion, feelings of decrease in personal effectiveness in the work environment. Objective: To determine the gender based differences of burnout among clinical and academic physical therapist. Methodology: This cross-sectional comparative study was conducted at major various educational institutes, hospitals and private clinical setups of twin cities Rawalpindi and Islamabad from January to June 2021 (6 months) The total sample was n= 324 participants enlisted using non-probability purposive sampling. The adults aged 25-40 years, with at least 1 year of working experience, both male and female were included. The data was collected using Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) tool. The data analysis was done by SPSS 21 version. Results: The mean age of participant was 29.69±4.34 years. The level of burnout among the physical therapist on the basis of gender (p<0.001) and occupational differences (p=0.001), both showed statistically significant association. Conclusion: Level of burnout in physical therapists was found to be low. Female physical therapists exhibited greater level of burnout as compared to their male counterparts and also academicians tended to have greater burnout as compared to those working in clinical settings Keywords: Academic training, burnout, gender, health care delivery, physical therapist