The burnout severity level was significantly higher amongst Imams in Republic of Srpska than amongst Imams in Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina

Abstract

Introduction Modern researches suggested that the burnout syndrome of workers employed in the social services increased and this term is taken as a working diagnosis to indicate a particular form of psychological (mental and emotional) exhaustion due to overload at work. Objective To investigate the differences of burnout syndrome severity amongst Imams (Islamic priests) in the Republic of Srpska (RS) and amongst Imams in the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina (FBH) in the postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina (BH). Methods The sample was consisted from 148 Imams (68 from RS) of age (mean±standard deviation) 40.2±10.7 years (RS=39.7±11.1 years and FBH=40.6±10.2 years, t -test=0.5, P =0.6). We used the standardized – Burnout test of Archibald Hart from 2009. Results The obtained results indicate that the level of burnout syndrome severity was significantly higher amongst Imams in the Republic of Srpska (mean±standard deviation=3.0±1.5 on the Lickert scale 1–5) than amongst Imams i the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina (2.2±1.3) (Student's t -test=4.757, P Conclusion The level of burnout syndrome severity was significantly higher amongst Imams in the Republic of Srpska than amongst Imams i the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina.