Relationship between emotional involvement and burnout among psychiatric residents

Abstract

Background: Relatively few research has been focusing so far on the correlations of communication with patients under serious distress and the emotion-regulation capacity of medical doctors. Neither the patterns of burnout, nor the possible factors for the prevention of emotional exhaustion have got enough attention. Objective: The study of the causal factors of empathy and burnout and the effect of emotional involvement on the practitioner. Methods: Descriptive study by questionnaire at the four Hungarian medical faculties with the participation of 67 psychiatry residents. Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) for the measurement of empathy, and the Patient-Practitioner Orientation Scale (PPOS) for the measurement of attitudes towards patients were applied in the study. Statistics: Spearman correlation, Kruskal-Wallis test, linear regression analysis. Results: High emotional exhaustion among 32.8% of residents, high level of depersonalisation of 29.9%, decrease of personal effectivity of 52.2% of the sample. Significantly higher depersonalisation was found in male psychiatry residents (p < 0.05). Among the IRI subscales, empathic distress shows correlation with two components of burnout: emotional exhaustion (p < 0.001) and the decrease of personal effectivity (p < 0.001). Patient-focused attitude (PPOS) is correlated with the three components of empathy. There is an inverse correlation between patient-focused attitude and depersonalisation (MBI). The feeling of distress has an impact both on emotional exhaustion and personal effectivity. Personal effectivity was predicted by perceived distress, the capacity for perspective change, and depersonalisation. Depersonalisation was predicted by the caring dimension of PPOS, concern and emotional exhaustion. Conclusions: The take over of the negative emotions from the patient may lead to the emotional exhaustion and decrease in the feeling of personal effectivity of the professional. Emotional concern and the capacity for decentration may determine a relational attitude which increases the feeling of personal effectivity, and decreases the chance for the appearance of impersonal care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract).