The Relationship between Burnout and Wellbeing Using Social Support, Organizational Justice, and Lifelong Learning in Healthcare Specialists from Romania

Abstract

Background and objectives: The goal of this study was to evaluate the levels of organizational justice, social support, wellbeing, and lifelong learning associated with the level of burnout experienced by medical and non-medical staff from public and private medical units. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 497 healthcare professionals: 367 medical personnel (Mage = 43.75 ± 0.50), including 216 nurses, 97 physicians, and 54 respondents with other medical specialities such as biologists, psychologists, physical therapists, pharmacists, etc., and 130 non-medical staff respondents (Mage = 45.63 ± 0.80), including administrative personnel. The Maslach Burnout Inventory, the ECO System, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the WHO Wellbeing Index, and the revised Jefferson Scale of Physician’s Lifelong Learning were used. Results: Burnout was measured in terms of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Medical personnel registered higher values of personal accomplishment (38.66 ± 0.39 vs. 35.87 ± 0.69), while non-medical personnel registered higher values of depersonalization (6.59 ± 0.52 vs. 4.43 ± 0.26) and emotional exhaustion (27.33 ± 1.24 vs. 19.67 ± 0.71). In terms of organizational justice, higher scores were observed for medical staff, while non-medical staff recorded lower values (24.28 ± 0.24 vs. 22.14 ± 0.38). For wellbeing, higher scores were also registered for medical staff (11.95 ± 0.21 vs. 10.33 ± 0.37). Conclusions: For lifelong learning and social support, no statistically significant differences were found. In the case of the proposed parallel moderated mediation model, the moderated mediation effects of organizational justice, lifelong learning, and burnout on the relationship between social support and wellbeing were valid for every dimension of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment), but lifelong learning was not found to be a viable mediating variable, even if high levels of social support correspond to high levels of lifelong learning and wellbeing.