Abstract
Background: Mental healthcare workers are exposed to work-related stress daily because they are frontline healthcare providers. They constitute a fundamental part of the mental health system in South Africa. The mental health occupation, therefore, may be stressful and demanding, which could render mental healthcare workers susceptible to burnout.
Objectives: To determine factors associated with stress and burnout (being measured by emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and lack of personal accomplishment) among mental healthcare workers in a hospital in Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa.
Method: A quantitative, cross-sectional study design was applied by using a probability design stratified random sampling to select 265 mental healthcare workers employed in a selected hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey for measuring emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and personal accomplishment was used to collect data. Variable results of this study were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Software (SPSS), version 27. The data was analysed by running frequencies and descriptive statistics. Frequency distributions tables were computed, means, standard deviations standard errors were used to compute central tendency and dispersion of the data. Logistic regression was used to compute measures of associations and confidence intervals.
Results: The study had an inconsistent response rate. Out of the 663 respondents, only 265 participated in the study, and 398 did not participate in the study due to operational reasons including the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in the company terminating the services of some employees, others resigned, while some others refused to participate in the study. The study population comprised mostly of female (89.9%) mental healthcare workers, with relatively high scores for emotional exhaustion (9.8%, 95 CI 13.17-15.6), depersonalisation (39.2%, 95 CI 9.1-11.2), and personal accomplishment (30.2%, 95 CI 34.3-37.2). Higher levels of burnout were significantly associated with age and years of work (r =245 p= <.001), and emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation (r = 619, p <.001). Mental healthcare workers working in chronic psychiatric wards (75.5%) reported high levels of burnout as compared to other departments.
Conclusion: Prevalence and factors related to burnout was found associated with years of work, age, emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation. Maintaining a safe working environment with adequate resources is imperative and highly recommended. Strategies to prevent burnout in the future, include managerial support, provision of resources, and promotion of open communication between employees and management.
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Key words: Burnout; emotional exhaustion; depersonalisation; lack of personal accomplishment; mental healthcare workers; job-related stress and prevalence.