Burnout in Medical Residents: A Study Based on the Job Demands-Resources Model

Abstract EN

Purpose.

Burnout is a prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors on the job.

The purpose of our cross-sectional study was to estimate the burnout rates among medical residents in the largest Greek hospital in 2012 and identify factors associated with it, based on the job demands-resources model (JD-R).

Method.

Job demands were examined via a 17-item questionnaire assessing 4 characteristics (emotional demands, intellectual demands, workload, and home-work demands’ interface) and job resources were measured via a 14-item questionnaire assessing 4 characteristics (autonomy, opportunities for professional development, support from colleagues, and supervisor’s support).

The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was used to measure burnout.

Results.

Of the 290 eligible residents, 90.7% responded.

In total 14.4% of the residents were found to experience burnout.

Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that each increased point in the JD-R questionnaire score regarding home-work interface was associated with an increase in the odds of burnout by 25.5%.

Conversely, each increased point for autonomy, opportunities in professional development, and each extra resident per specialist were associated with a decrease in the odds of burnout by 37.1%, 39.4%, and 59.0%, respectively.

Conclusions.

Burnout among medical residents is associated with home-work interface, autonomy, professional development, and resident to specialist ratio.