Psychological effects of burnout among health workers

Abstract

Stress and burnout among human service professionals have been considered by researchers as an endemic affecting the quality-of-service delivery within the profession. A cross-sectional survey research method through a quantitative approach was used in exploring the psychological effects of burnout among health professionals. Through stratified and simple random sampling procedures, 150 health workers (90 from Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and 60 from Ridge Hospital) were sampled and responded to a standardized burnout questionnaire designed by Maslach (Maslach burnout inventory 2008). Frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviation, and t-test were used to analyze the data. The findings of the study rejected the hypothesis that experienced doctors will experience less burnout than inexperienced doctors. Again, the finding of the study indicated that there is an age barrier when it comes to burnout, thus, younger health workers experience burnout more than older health workers. The outcome of the study further rejected the fact that there is a correlation between gender and the level of burnout. The study concluded that as burnout was closely related to age and experience as a more source of stress and burnout among doctors, management and staff of the health institution must consider appropriate measures to alleviate job stress and burnout. Keywords: Stress; Burnout; Health workers.