Mood Emot.  2020 Jul;18(2):37-48. 10.35986/me.2020.18.2.37.

Contributing Factors to Burnout Development in the Community Mental Health Workers

• Won GH
• Kim JE
• Lee JH

• KMID: 2525663
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.35986/me.2020.18.2.37

Abstract

Background
Burnout is a syndrome resulting from chronic work-related stress, characterized by symptoms including “feelings of exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job, and reduced professional efficacy.” Human service providers are susceptible to burnout. Thus, this study aimed to investigate community mental health workers’ job stress, experiences with client violence, and burnouts and to analyze factors that affect burnout.
Methods
This study used retrospective data from a survey of mental health workers at a mental health-related institution in a city. The data included sociodemographic characteristics, job stress, client violence, and quality of life.
Results
From a total of 170 mental health workers, 67.6% were female. Subjects who were in lower age groups, had <1 year of work experience, were married, and were irregular workers were vulnerable to various job stressors. Factors associated with burnout were job demand, lack of reward, job insecurity, physical environment, other violence, and level of education.
Conclusion
We should create an environment wherein community mental health workers can be safe and satisfied with their work, which could lower workers’ job stress and prevent burnouts due to work. This, in turn, enhances the quality of care provided to people with mental health problems.

Keyword

Burnout; psychological; Occupational stress; Community psychiatry