Predictors of Burnout among Mental Health Professionals

Abstract

Burnout significantly impacts service, productivity, and wellbeing of mental health professionals. Designing effective intervention strategy to prevent burnout required strong evidence base on the contributors of burnout. This study was designed in the context of limited knowledge on burnout and its contributors among mental health professionals in Bangladesh. With the overarching aim to identify predictors of burnout, this study explored putative contributors of burnout and then carried out multiple regression to identify significant predictors. Exploration component included desk review and evaluation by a panel with experts which resulted in listing of 16 putative contributors. Suitable tools are assembled to measure these factors. The set of tools included a few already available instruments namely, the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI-B), the Coping Scale, Steel Injustice Inventory, and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory along with a few custom-built instruments. A cross sectional questionnaire survey was conducted with a sample of 292 mental health professionals from psychiatry, clinical psychology, counseling psychology, and educational psychology background. Results identified multiple predictors of burnout for the mental health professionals in Bangladesh. Workplace aggression (β = .235, p < .001), neuroticism (β = -.211, p < .001), and nonadaptive coping (β = -.191, p < .001) were the strongest predictors of personal burnout. Stressful work (β = .225, p < .001), workplace aggression (β = .208, p < .001), and neuroticism (β = -.205, p < .001) were the strongest predictors of work-related burnout. Workplace aggression (β = .255, p < .001), neuroticism (β = -.195, p < .001), and adaptive coping (β = -.197, p < .001) were the strongest predictors of client-related burnout among mental health professionals in Bangladesh. Comparison of burnout revealed statistically IV significant difference in personal burnout (F3, 288 = 21.508, p < .001), work-related burnout (F3, 288 = 8.780, p < .001) & client-related burnout (F3, 288 = 13.559, p < .001) scores among different mental health professional groups. Subsequent multiple comparisons of the mean burnout score indicated clinical psychologist having significantly higher burnout among the four groups in terms of personal (M = 41.22, SD =18.88) and work-related burnout (M = 34.23, SD = 20.02) while psychiatrists have higher client-related burnout (M = 30.67, SD = 22.47). The findings of the study are likely to be useful for the key stakeholders of mental health service delivery in Bangladesh. This may be especially beneficial in developing and implementing evidence informed strategy to prevent burnout among mental health professionals in Bangladesh.