Specific Questionnaire in Assessing Occupational Burnout among Nurses

Job burnout among nurses is a global concern caused by frequent and round-the-clock encounters with stressful situations. This study aimed to specify the status of using a specific questionnaire in assessing the occupational burnout among the nurses.

This was a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study conducted on 637 Iranian nurses in 2019. The cluster sampling method was used to collect data. The data collection tool was a specific nursing burnout questionnaire. The frequency, mean, and standard deviation were assessed using SPSS- 16, and after proving abnormality with inferential tests such as Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-wallis tests, data were analyzed.

Most of the nurses participating in this study (85.4%) were female. The mean age and work experience of participants were 33.29±7.07 and 8.14±7.46 years, respectively. The mean score of job burnout among the participants was 123.60±18.20. The highest mean was related to the consequences (40.74±10.01) and organizational antecedents (32.76±4.38), whereas the lowest mean was related to the individual’s toughness (21.08±2.74). Regarding demographic variables, marital and employment status, the number of children, and working shifts had a significant relationship with job burnout (p<0.05).

The results of this study indicated that the mean of burnout among nurses was moderate, and most of the subscales related to burnout were seen under the subscales of consequences and organizational antecedents. Therefore, it is essential that nursing managers identify the causes of burnout and consider plans and workshops to reduce and eliminate the causes of burnout, and maintain the safety and physical and mental health of nurses.