Assessment of Occupational Burnout And Its Determinants, Causes of Occupational Stress, And Its Coping Strategies Among Nurses Working In The Psychiatric Wards: A mixed-method study

Abstract

Aims: This study assessed occupational burnout and its determinants, causes of occupational stress, and its coping strategies amongst 13 nurses working in the psychiatry wards in India.

Methods: This was a longitudinal mixed-method study. The qualitative component comprised interviewing each participant under the steps of “free listing” and “pile sorting” to assess the causes of occupational stress and its coping strategies. The occupational burnout experiences were assessed using the Maslach Burnout Inventory.

Results: Low-level depersonalization scores were present among six (46.1%) participants. Scores under this component of burnout were negatively correlated with years of work experience in providing nursing care for admitted psychiatric patients (rs = -0.548, p=0.05). Median scores of the emotional exhaustion scale (p=0.047) and of the depersonalization scale (p=0.016) were significantly higher among participants working at the government hospital. The major cause of occupational stress was poor infrastructure and treatment facilities with a salience score of 0.154. The most adopted strategies to tide over occupational stress were reading books and meditation with a salience score of 0.128 and 0.109 respectively.

Conclusion: Extended work experience of participants was associated with their better ability to understand and empathize more with the patients as reflected by the low depersonalization scores. Two components of occupational burnout were found to be higher among nurses working in the government hospital. Organizational relationships were a more common cause of occupational stress than client-related matters among the participants. Recreational activities were the most common coping strategies adopted by the participants to deal with stress.