The Mediator Role of Feelings of Guilt in the Process of Burnout and Psychosomatic Disorders: A Cross-Cultural Study.

Bruno Ribeiro Do Couto,Ester Grau-Alberola,Hugo Figueiredo-Ferraz,Pedro R Gil-Monte

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.751211

Abstract

Burnout was recently declared by WHO as an “occupational phenomenon” in the International Classification of Diseases 11th revision (ICD-11), recognizing burnout as a serious health issue. Earlier studies have shown that feelings of guilt appear to be involved in the burnout process. However, the exact nature of the relationships among burnout, guilt and psychosomatic disorders remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediator role of feelings of guilt in the relationship between burnout and psychosomatic disorders, and perform a cross-cultural validation of the multi-dimensional model by Gil-Monte in two samples of teachers (Portuguese vs. Spanish). The study sample was composed of 1,266 teachers, 1,062 from Spain, and 204 from Portugal. Burnout was measured by the Spanish Burnout Inventory. Hypotheses were tested together in a path model. The results obtained provide empirical evidence for the mediator role of guilt in the relationship between the Burnout syndrome and psychosomatic disorders in the sample of teachers from Spain and Portugal, and they contribute to the empirical validation of the model by Gil-Monte. The results indicate that guilt should be incorporated as a symptom of burnout in order to identify individuals affected by burnout and profiles or types of burnout to differentiate it from other pathologies like depression.

Highlights

Burnout is a psychological response to chronic work-related stress. Edelwich and Brodsky (1980) have defined burnout as “a progressive loss of idealism, energy, and purpose experienced by people in the helping professions as a result of the conditions of their work.” It is a process that progresses from enthusiasm to stagnation, frustration and, apathy. Price and Murphy (1984) defined burnout as a disordered or unsuccessful process of adaptation to a stressful work situation that progresses from shock and disorganization to volatile emotions, guilt and loneliness
Some of the values obtained for other fit indices were acceptable for the two samples: Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) = 0.975, Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index (AGFI) = 0.900, Normed Fit Index (NFI) = 0.932, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.954 for the Portuguese sample; and GFI = 0.981, AGFI = 0.925, NFI = 0.957, CFI = 0.960 for the Spanish sample
The values obtained in the Spanish sample for Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = 0.094 and for the Portuguese sample, RMSEA = 0.092, indicate that the hypothesized model presented a mediocre fit in the two study samples

Summary

Introduction

Burnout is a psychological response to chronic work-related stress. Edelwich and Brodsky (1980) have defined burnout as “a progressive loss of idealism, energy, and purpose experienced by people in the helping professions as a result of the conditions of their work.” It is a process that progresses from enthusiasm to stagnation, frustration and, apathy. Price and Murphy (1984) defined burnout as a disordered or unsuccessful process of adaptation to a stressful work situation that progresses from shock and disorganization to volatile emotions (e.g., irony), guilt and loneliness. Burnout is a psychological response to chronic work-related stress. Edelwich and Brodsky (1980) have defined burnout as “a progressive loss of idealism, energy, and purpose experienced by people in the helping professions as a result of the conditions of their work.”. It is a process that progresses from enthusiasm to stagnation, frustration and, apathy. Price and Murphy (1984) defined burnout as a disordered or unsuccessful process of adaptation to a stressful work situation that progresses from shock and disorganization to volatile emotions (e.g., irony), guilt and loneliness. Maslach and Jackson (1981), who defined burnout symptoms as: (a) reduced efficacy or personal accomplishment, (b) emotional exhaustion, and (c) depersonalization (or cynicism). Burnout was included in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as an occupational phenomenon (World Health Organization [WHO], 2018)

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