The Relationship between Job Stress and Job Burnout among Primary Health Care Workers (Behvarz) at Saveh University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Background and Aim: Due to having multiple responsibilities in ensuring the health of patients, primary health care workers are under many stresses that may lead to burnout. The aim of present study was to determine the relationship between job stress and job burnout in primary health care workers (behvarz) at Saveh University of Medical Sciences in 2019. Method: This descriptive, correlational study was conducted on all 128 primary health care workers in Saveh and Zarandieh cities, who were selected by the census method due to the small size of the population. Data was collected by a demographic information form, the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Spielberger Occupational Stress questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the data, and independent t-tests, analysis of variance, and Pearson's correlation were used to investigate the relationship between variables through the SPSS version 18. Results: The mean score of job stress was 140.7 ± 48.6, which was lower than the average score of the tool (ie 150). The mean score of job burnout was 23.43 ± 8.3 for the dimension of emotional exhaustion, 17 ± 4.78 for depersonalization, and 14.43 ± 6.74 for personal accomplishment. There is a direct and significant relationship between job stress and emotional exhaustion (r=0.59; p< .001) and depersonalization (r=0.22; p< .001), and there is an inverse and significant relationship between job stress and personal accomplishment (r=0.47; p< .001). This means that with the increase of job stress, job burnout in the two dimensions of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization also increases and with the increase of job stress, personal accomplishment score decreases. Conclusion: In this study, health workers had a moderate stress level and a high level of job burnout in the areas of depersonalization and personal accomplishment. Considering the high level of job burnout and its relationship with job stress in health workers and the fact that these factors can have a negative impact on the quality of providing health services, it is necessary to carry out necessary interventions to reduce and manage job stress and burnout among health workers.