The incidence of burnout in health care professionals working in Pretoria oncology centres

Burnout is a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced personal accomplishment that may occur amongst individuals who work primarily with people. Nurses and doctors working in oncology must care for many critically ill and dying patients. Pretoria is a city with a high concentration of oncology institutions. The aim of this research is to evaluate the incidence of burnout amongst health care professionals in Pretoria oncology centres, to assess whether certain variables have an influence on the levels of burnout and to compare the situation in Pretoria to the rest of the world. A questionnaire was distributed to all health care professionals working in oncology centres in Pretoria. The questionnaire consisted of an informed consent, demographic data and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The participants included doctors, nursing staff, radiographers and social workers in both state and private health care institutes, involving radiotherapy, chemotherapy and palliative care units. 240 questionnaires were distributed and 156 were returned. Results show that 24.65% - 32 .87% of participants experienced a high degree of burnout, which is average compared to the rest of the world. Burnout in cancer care workers has been reported to be 22.1 - 53.3% in the rest of the world. Young, single participants appeared to experience a greater incidence of burnout, which is consistent with the literature. The incidence of burnout amongst healthcare professionals, in Pretoria oncology centres appear to be average when compared to the rest of the world. However, language problems, cultural differences and other limitations of the burnout scale may have played a role and warrants further research.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Public Health and Family Medicine

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• De Klerk, Era

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Collins, Kathleen
• Gwyther, Liz

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10379

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10379