Emotional burnout in psychiatrists from different regions of Ukraine during the war
N. O. Maruta, T. V. Panko, V. Y. Fedchenko, I. O. Yavdak, O. E. SemikinaIntroduction
The war in Ukraine has led to an increased burden on the medical system and on medical workers, which increases the risk of burnout. A special group in this regard is psychiatrists.
Objectives
To determine emotional burnout among psychiatrists in Ukraine in wartime.
Methods
210 psychiatrists from different regions of Ukraine were surveyed using the “Questionnaire of socio-demographic indicators in mental health workers to identify emotional burnout during war”, the burnout questionnaire by K. Maslach and S. Jackson. The study was conducted on the REDCap platform.
Results
The survey data indicate changes in working conditions during the war: worsening psychological working conditions (41.43% of respondents), increased tension in working conditions (79.04%), increased workload (59.52%), and worsening financial support for the organization of the work process (20.95%). Only 8.57% of respondents noted that the conditions and nature of work had not changed. According to the results of the K. Maslach and S. Jackson scale, it was found that 93.35% of respondents had manifestations of burnout syndrome. According to the “Emotional Exhaustion” scale, 65.71% of psychiatrists had a high level of emotional exhaustion - 29.07 points; 27.62% had an average level of 12.64 points; only 6.67% had a low level - 5.64 points. On the “Depersonalization” scale, the highest indicators were observed in 40.00% of the surveyed, 17.33 points, average indicators in 27.62%, 7.40 points, and low indicators in 32.38% of people (1.75 points). On the scale “Reduction of personal achievements” low indicators were established in most cases - 39.77 points in 78.10% of cases, average indicators occurred in 13.81% of people - 26.72 points, high indicators were in 8.10% of people - 15.82 points, which reflects a tendency to negatively assess one’s competence and productivity, a decrease in professional motivation, an increase in negativism towards official duties, a tendency to absolve oneself of responsibility, a tendency to isolate oneself from others, a tendency to avoid participation in work.
Conclusions
The results of the study indicate that 93.35% of the surveyed psychiatrists had signs of burnout (of varying degrees of severity and different stages of formation): the initial stage of burnout was observed in 18.09% of the surveyed, the stage of stress/emotional exhaustion - in 33.33%, the stage of pronounced burnout - in 37.15%, the final stage - in 4.76%. The data obtained reflect the need to develop a system of preventive measures to prevent the development of burnout syndrome in psychiatrists during the war.
Disclosure of Interest
None Declared