Comparing Job Burnout and Quality of Life in Physically Active and Inactive Military Personnel

Damages caused by occupation can cause job burnout and reduce quality of life. Attention to ways to deal with this phenomenon, such as physical activity, is one of the goals of each organization. The purpose of the present study is to compare job burnout and quality of life between physically active and inactive personnel in a scientific military institution.
In this causative-comparative study, military personnel were chosen by accessible sampling method. Based on the results of Sharkey's Physical Activity Questionnaire, they were divided into active and inactive groups. Afterwards, they filled out Maslach Job Burnout and WHO Quality of Life Questionnaires. For the analyses of the data, multivariate analysis of covariance and SPSS 20 were used.
In this study, 100 military participants (mean age= 40.93; SD=8.63) were surveyed and they got divided into active (n= 54) and inactive (n=43) groups. Multivariate ANOVA indicated that in the physically inactive group, job burnout and subscales of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization had higher mean scores, and in the physically active group had higher means. Also, with respect to the quality of life variable, physically active individuals showed higher mean scores in both the total scores of physical health and mental health. This is while their component (physical function, emotional wellbeing, social function and general health) and physically inactive individuals showed higher mean scores in role disorder due to physical health, role disorder due to emotional health and pain. There was no significant difference in the energy/fatigue subscale.
The findings indicate that physical activity has increased the capacity of military personnel to improve the quality of life and to cope with job burnout. Therefore, it is suggested that physical activity can be used as part of strategic plans of military centers in order to increase staff efficacy.