F87. BURNOUT IN MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS WORKING WITH ACUTE AND NON-ACUTE IN-PATIENTS WITH PSYCHOSIS

Abstract

Background: Burnout in mental health professionals is documented widely in the literature as a significant problem in the fields of psychiatric and mental health. Burnout in mental health professionals is associated with variables as job satisfaction, unsupportive management, continuing education, inadequate numbers of staff and high risk and acutely ill patients, and high burnout in staff seems to affect an increase in episodes of aggression, seclusion, restraint and worker injuries. A great deal of the research on burnout has therefore focused on staff from acute wards. To our knowledge burnout has not been investigated and compared among mental health professionals working with acute and non-acute patients with psychosis before, at least not in a Danish context. Aim of the study was to investigate burnout among mental health professionals, including comparison of the level of burnout in mental health professionals working in acute and non-acute hospital settings. Burnout is a complex concept, and in this study defined as fatigue and exhaustion and not a severe psychosocial diagnosis. Method(s): A cross-sectional study using the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) was carried out in two psychiatric clinics in the Northern part of Jutland, Denmark as part of a larger implementation study. Participants were recruited from 8 wards, 3 acute wards and 5 non-acute wards. They filled-in a demographic questionnaire and the CBI. The CBI measures three domains of burnout; personal, work-related and client-related. Descriptive analysis of the demographic data and T-tests to compare means scores of burnout across the two groups were performed. Result(s): Hundred and fourteen mental health professionals participated; 60 nurses, 49 nurse assistants and 7 others. Acute wards accounted for 49 mental health professionals and non-acute wards for 65. No significant differences between MHCPs in acute and non-acute wards was found in mean scores in burnout. Further all mean scores reflected either "no signs of burnout" or "to be aware of some signs of burnout". Investigating proportions of high burnout, which is defined as scores higher that 50 and reflects that "one should react to burnout " or "immediately seek help", showed that MHCPs in the acute wards had a slightly higher proportion of burnout scores compared to non-acute wards. Both CBI mean scores and proportion of high burnout, showed that MHCPs scored relatively higher on personal and work-related burnout than client-related burnout. Discussion(s): No difference in burnout was found between MHCPs in acute and non-acute wards, however burnout in MHCPs seems to be much more influenced by personal or work-related factors, than client-related. This might point in the direction that even though psychiatric patients with psychosis can be a challenge to work with, working conditions have a bigger impact on burnout in MHCPs.