THE STUDY ON MEDICAL WORKERS’ EMOTIONAL BURNOUT SYNDROME

Abstract

The article is important because the problem of emotional burnout is particularly actual one for health professionals in Ukraine and around the world at the moment. The medical staffs of medical departments are exposed to excessive stress on a daily basis in the course of their professional activities due to constant and direct contact with patients who need urgent care or are in a critical psychological state. These circumstances in most cases cause negative emotions, excessive mental stress and physical fatigue. The article purpose was to study of the syndrome of “emotional burnout” and the peculiarities of its manifestation in health professionals depending on gender. The conducted empirical study was devoted to the psychological manifestations of medical workers’ emotional burnout among (depending on genders); it was organised in 2020. The special socio-psychological study included 60 medical workers (30 women-nurses and 30 male doctors) with 5 or more years of experience working in medical institutions in Kyiv. The following psychological techniques were used in the empirical study: V.V. Boyko’s method determining the level of "emotional burnout"; J. Greenberg’s method studying burnout; Maslach Burnout Inventory for “person – person” professions; S.A. Budassi’s method for self-assessment; Cattell 16PF Questionnaire. The study results allowed us to draw the following conclusions. Analyzing the link between gender and emotional burnout, we should say that women in a stressful situation are more prone to psychosomatic and psychovegetative disorders, and men are prone to personal alienation (depersonalization). In addition, women’s syndrome is manifested not only through “resistance” symptoms - inadequate selective emotional response and reduction of professional responsibilities, but also through experienced traumatic circumstances - a symptom of the "stress" phase, while men’s emotional burnout unfolds only via the “resistance” symptoms. Prospects for further research: to consider the problem of burnout factors appeared at medical workers’ professional path in a new perspective. Based on the obtained results, we can say that many of the studied health professionals needed specialized psychological care to overcome the emotional burnout syndrome.