Situational levels of burnout among staff in six European inpatient and community mental health teams
| Date | 01 May 2006 |
| Pages | 12-21 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17556228200600003 |
| Published date | 01 May 2006 |
| Author | Robert Hill,Peter Ryan,Polly Hardy,Marta Anczewska,Anna Kurek,Ian Dawson,Heli Laijarvi,Katia Nielson,Klaus Nybourg,Iliana Rokku,Colette Turner |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
12
Situational levels of burnout among staff
in six European inpatient and community
mental health teams
Abstract
Working in mental health services has always been
recognised as a stressful occupation and many
studies have attested to the high levels of stress
and burnout. This study examined comparative
levels of stress among inpatient and community
mental health staffacross five European countries.
Using a quasi experimental pre-test post-test
design, data was collected from staffat baseline, six
months and 12 months. This paper examines data
from the baseline period. Staff working in acute
inpatient wards and community mental health teams
in Denmark (Aarhus, Storstrøm), Finland (Tampere),
Norway (Bodo), Poland (Warsaw) and the UK
(Cambridge), were asked to complete the Maslach
Burnout Inventory (MBI) (Maslach, & Jackson, 1986),
the Mental Health Professional Stress Scale (Cushway,
Tyler & Nolan, 1996) and a demographic questionnaire
designed for this study. Results on the MBI are
reported in this article. Both community and inpatient
teams reported high levels of burnout. There was
evidence to suggest that burnout differed by site but
not by team type. The English teams scored highest
in emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation.
Relatively high levels of work-related personal
accomplishment were reported across all of the sites.
Key words
occupational stress; burnout; European
Introduction
There is now persuasive evidence to suggest that hospital
and community-based mental health staff experience
considerable stress in the course of carrying out their
work, and that stress and burnout not only affect their
level of performance and the success of their
interventions, but also their job satisfaction and
ultimately their own health (Van der Klink et al,2001;
Carson et al,1996). Structural costs in terms of
absenteeism, loss of productivity and use of health
service resources is high and increasing. These findings
have been confirmed from a number of recent studies
which suggest that most of the main ‘caring’ professions
are experiencing extremely high levels of stress and
burnout. So far as community psychiatric nurses are
concerned, Edwards et al (2001) found high stress levels
in a Welsh survey. The aim of this study was to examine
the variety, frequency and severity of stressors
experienced by community mental health nurses
(CMHNs) in Wales. Overall, it was concluded that
CMHNs in Wales were experiencing high levels of stress.
The GHQ-12 measure indicated that 35% of CMHNs
crossed the GHQ-30 threshold of ‘caseness’. Measured
against a normative sample of mental health workers
51% of CMHNs were experiencing high levels of long-
term emotional exhaustion: 24% were suffering from
high levels of depersonalisation, while 14% were
experiencing severe long-term feelings of lack of
personal accomplishment.
The Journal of Mental Health Workforce Development Volume 1 Issue 1 May 2006 © Pavilion
Robert G Hill, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, London, UK
Peter Ryan, Middlesex University, London, UK
Polly Hardy, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia
Marta Anczewska, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Poland
Anna Kurek, Department of Animal Breeding and Production, Warsaw Agricultural University, Warsaw
Ian Dawson, Nordland Psychiatric Hospital Bodo, Norway
Heli Laijarvi, University of Tampere, Finland
Katia Nielson, Social and Psychiatry Department of Storstrøm County, Storstrøm, Denmark
Klaus Nybourg, Psychiatry Department County of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark
Iliana Rokku, University of Cambridge, UK
and Colette Turner, Middlesex University, London, UK
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