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Burnout syndrome prevalence in physiotherapists
Rev Assoc Med B ras 2017; 63(4):361-365 361
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Burnout syndrome prevalence in physiotherapists
Blanca González-Sánchez1*, María Victoria González López-Arza1, Jesús Montanero-Fernández2, Enrique Varela-D onoso3,
Juan R odríguez-Mansilla1, José Carlos Mingote-Adán4
1Medical-Surgical Department, Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain
2Mathematics Department, Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain
3Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine Department, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
4Coordinator, Comprehensive care program for ill healthcare professionals (PAISE), Madrid, Spain
Summary
Study conducted at Universidad de
Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain
Article received: 9/11/2016
Accepted for publication: 10/19/2016
*Correspondence:
Grupo de Investigación Adolor
Departamento Terapeútica Médico-Quirúr-
gica de la Universidad de Extremadura
Facultad de Medicina
Address: Avda. de Elvas, s/n
Badajoz – Spain
Postal code: 06006
Objective: To evaluate burnout syndrome in its three aspects, jointly as well as
independently, in physiotherapists from the Extremadura region (Spain).
Method: Analytic descriptive epidemiological transversal trial in primary care
and institutional practice, with physiotherapists practicing in Extremadura who
met the inclusion criteria, after having signed an informed consent form.
Emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low professional accomplishment
were the outcomes measured.
Results: Physiotherapists from Extremadura show a 65.23 point level of burnout
syndrome, according to the Maslach Burnout Inventory questionnaire. Therefore,
they are positioned in the middle of the rating scale for the syndrome, and very
near to the high level at starting score of 66 points.
Conclusion: Physiotherapists in Extremadura present moderate scores for the
three dimensions of burnout syndrome, namely, emotional exhaustion, deper-
sonalization and low professional accomplishment. For this reason, they are in
the moderate level of the syndrome and very near to the high level, which starts
at a score of 66 points. No relation between burnout syndrome and age has been
found in our study.
Keywords: burnout, physiotherapy, physical therapy.
Introduction
Healthcare personnel represents one of the working groups
among which the majority of burnout syndrome (BOS)
studies have been carried out. Along with educators, this
group is probably the most affected by BOS.1 The majority
of health professionals get involved for many hours with
problems and worries of the patients they treat. Changes in
the health sector generate increased competitiveness, leading
to difficult situations that health professionals have to adapt
to continuously. All of the situations above can disrupt the
physical and psychological integrity of these professionals.2
Different studies demonstrate the occurrence of BOS
in several professions. Many of these studies are focused in
the health sector. However, few of them show its prevalence
among physiotherapists, despite this being one of the most
vulnerable groups. Wolfe3 was the first to study BOS in
physiotherapists, and he concluded that these profession-
als weren’t exempt from suffering from this pathology.
The interest of this project is assessing the prevalence
of BOS among physiotherapists who work in the Ex-
tremadura region (Spain). Physiotherapists who work in
The Regional Health Service (public health), as well as
those who work in the private sector were included.
The aim of our study was to assess BOS in its three
dimensions: emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonaliza-
tion (Dp) and low professional accomplishment (LPA) in
physiotherapists working in Extremadura, as a group and
independently. This will make it possible for us to know
the syndrome’s prevalence as well as its relations to so-
ciodemographic and working variables, and the groups
of affected physiotherapists.
Method
Participants
We have designed a descriptive and analytic transversal
epidemiologic study. It has been carried out in the Auto-