A study on burnout syndrome in healthcare providers to people living with HIV

Abstract

Dedicating physical and psychological care to other people is a tiring activity, not only because of the responsibility but also, more importantly, because of the emotional aspects involved in this relationship, which lead to stress and, if this stress continues, to burnout syndrome. Some authors report that the demands of caring for HIV-positive people are greater than those for other types of patients, increasing the chances of burnout. This study aimed to investigate the occurrence of burnout in healthcare providers of HIV-positive patients in the state of Paraná, Brazil. Through the use of a questionnaire and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), 87 people were evaluated. The averages for the MBI were 19.07 for emotional exhaustion (EE), 4.18 for depersonalisation (DE) and 39.60 for personal accomplishment (PA). There were 26.4% of people with high scores on EE, 17.2% presenting elevated DE and 10.5% showing diminished PA in their work. It was observed that the majority of the carers were in this occupation for a short period of time (74.7% for less than five years), while 42.5% spent up to 20 hours per week in the activity. Among the healthcare providers, 63.2% were volunteers. The variables ‘sex’ and ‘working time’ have showed themselves as significant predictors for DE as well as ‘age’ for PA. Taking these characteristics into account, it can be seen that it is necessary to give some special attention to this group of workers, in order to enable them to access preventive and/or interventional measures.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to: Mayra Mugnaini and Sarah G. Martins Silva for collecting and typing the data, as well as for the lectures given to the participating healthcare providers. To UNESCO/Ministério da Saúde/Coordenação Nacional DST/AIDS for the funding that made the execution of this research possible.