Burnout is a concept in industrial and organizational psychology for "an excessive stress reaction to one's occupational or professional environment. It is manifested by feelings of emotional and physical exhaustion coupled with a sense of frustration and failure".[1] Burnout has three dimensions[2]:
Emotional exhaustion
Depersonalization (cynicism)
Diminished personal accomplishment (inefficacy)
Subsequent research suggests the third dimension, personal accomplishment, better fits with the concept of professional engagement rather than with burnout.[3]
Workaholism more closely correlates with burnout than with engagement, although workaholism correlated with both (weakly negatively with engagement [via absorption])[4].
Engagement may not simply be the opposite of burnout[5]. Engagement and burnout may be related more specifically[6]:
Emotional exhaustion may be the opposite of vigor
Cynicism may be the opposite of dedication
OR
"Vigor and dedication are the direct positive opposites of exhaustion and cynicism, respectively."[5]
According to Schaufeli[5] , the "Energetic Process" is based on Hockey's model of compensatory control and when "perceived demands are too high to be met by the usual working effort, two options are open:
Strain coping mode leading to fatigue and irritability
Passive coping mode leading to disengagement
The distinction between burnout and depression is not clear[7].
As of 2017, 44% of physicians have have burnout[11] Previously, in 2014, as many as 50% of physicians in practice may have burnout.[10]General practitioners seem to have low job control and the highest proportion of burnout cases[13].
For physicians in training, rates of burnout (emotional exhaustion) for students, residents and fellows is about 50% while the rate is 36% in similarly aged college graduates.[8]
Burnout is due to loss of control at work, and also "burnout is mainly predicted by job demands but also by lack of job resources"[14].
Curiously, a study of physicians found, "High levels of personal accomplishment increased stress levels (beta=0 080), whereas depersonalisation lowered stress levels (beta=-0 105)"[15] The study also found that
Different underlying factors may lead to varying phenotypes of burnout[16][17] One study found[16]:
Burnout (high on all three dimensions)
Engagement (low on all three)
Overextended (high on exhaustion only)
Disengaged (high on cynicism only). Also called depersonalization by Leiter[16] which may be the same as mental distance used by the World Health Organization[18].
Ineffective (high on inefficacy only)
Regarding the possible connection of burnout with autonomy, burnout is more common in[19]:
Burnout in physicians in training is associated with perceived harassment[20]. In one survey of 24 American medical schools, harassment occurring at least one time was reported by 83% of students[20]. In this study, harassment was more commonly reported being perpetrated by residents[20]. The rates of burnout among students responding to the survey were[20]:
All students 34%
Those reporting recurrent harassment by faculty 57%
Those not reporting recurrent harassment by faculty 32%
Leiter and Maslach found the following antecedents from the Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS) using factor analysis:[23]
Workload
Fairness
Control
Community
Values
Rewards
Of these causes, workload is the strongest correlate of emotional exhaustion[23] but loss of control may be the initial factor. Perceived control or autonomy and fairness correlate with cynicism.[23][24]
16% of burnout is attributed to perceived control at the worksite.[25]
Leiter et al found that workload relates more to exhaustion while values incongruency relates more to cynicism[26].
Leadership affects both burnout and work fulfillment. A study at the Mayo Clinic found that the "average leadership behaviour score of physicians’ work unit supervisor explained 11% of the variation in burnout and 47% of the variation in workplace satisfaction"[27].
In a second study across 11 healthcare organizations, the rates of burnout by tercile of leadership ratings of effectiveness by their direct reports[28]:
18%
35%
47%
According to the yearly survey of recent medical school graduates by the Association of American Medical Colleges, the following are reported [29]:
Occasional public embarrassment 20%
Occasional public humiliation 8%
Burnout is now being studied in its reported antitheses, job satisfaction, job engagement and thriving. Thriving may protect against burnout[30][31]. Engagement is both negatively associated with burnout, but also unhealthy engagement may lead to burnout.[32]
Several burnout inventories are available including the Maslach, Copenhagen, and Oldenburg[33][34].
A serum S100B level has also been correlated with emotional exhaustion.[35]
A systematic review comparing the quality of burnout scales has been published and found the CBI to have the strongest validity, followed by the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory.[36]
The Maslach Burnout Inventory is a well-studied measurement of burnout that was first published in 1981. Maslach and her colleague Jackson first identified the construct "burnout" in the 1970s, and developed a measure that weighs the effects of on three scales[2]:
Emotional exhaustion (nine items)
Depersonalization (five items)
Personal accomplishment (eight items)
The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) has several versions:
Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) is 22-tems and for jobs such as 'clergy, police, therapists, social workers, medical'[37]
MBI-HSS without the Personal Accomplishment subscale is 14 items.
General Survey (MBI-GS) a 16-items for more general, non-social jobs as well[38]
MBI-GS without the Professional Efficacy subscale is 10 items.
Eckleberry-Hunt in 2017 raised the question that burnout is being over-reported by deeming burnout present if either emotional exhaustion or depersonalization are present.[39]
2. I have become more callous toward people since I took this job[42] or How often do you feel you’ve become more callous toward people since you started your residency?[41]
Never
A few times a year or less
Once a month
A few times a month
Once a week
A few times a week
Every day
This item correlates with depersonalization subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (minus the single item being tested)[40]:
Most studies do not report the stem. Veninga using a 1 to 10 scale used for the stem, "On the following scale, indicate by circling a number where you feel you are."[49]
"Using your own definition of “burnout,” please circle one of the answers below" or “Overall, based on your definition of burnout, how would you rate your level of burnout?”[50]
I enjoy my work. I have no symptoms of burnout.
I enjoy my work. I have no symptoms of burnout.
Occasionally I am under stress, and I don’t always have as much energy as I once did, but I don’t feel burned out.
I am under stress, and don’t always have as much energy as I did, but I don’t feel burned out.
I am definitely burning out and have one or more symptoms of burnout, such as physical and emotional exhaustion.
I am definitely burning out and have one or more symptoms of burnout, e.g., emotional exhaustion.
The symptoms of burnout that I’m experiencing won’t go away. I think about frustration at work a lot.
The symptoms of burnout that I am experiencing won’t go away. I think about work frustrations a lot.
I feel completely burned out and often wonder if I can go on. I am at the point where I may need some changes or may need to seek some sort of help.
I feel completely burned out. I am at the point where I may need to seek help.
The 10‑item Zero Burnout Program survey, or called the Mini Z[51], was adapted from the earlier Northwest Permanente (NWP) and Ohio Permanente Medical Group (OPMG) by Freeborn[52] and Schmoldt[47] which based this single question on earlier work by Veninga[49]. The SIBOQ was then used by later version of the Physician Worklife Survey[53]. The SIBOQ was first validated against the MBI by Rohland in 2004[54]. The SIBOQ was later used by the Minimizing Error, Maximizing Outcomes (MEMO)[55] studies used the self-definition format.
The Mini Z is a single item (burnout is defined as answers c, d, or e) that correlates with the emotional exhaustion scale of the Maslach[54]:
The Northwest Permanente (NWP) and Ohio Permanente Medical Group (OPMG) by Schmoldt, Freeborn and Klevit[52][47] stated[47] that the NWP also used the self-diagnosis item of Veninga that started in 1991 used the format:
The self-diagnosis of burnout item of Veninga where the respondent chooses a number between 1 ("Not burned out") and 10 ("completely burned out").[49]
Structure
1. Using your own definition of “burnout,” please circle one of the answers below:
a. I enjoy my work. I have no symptoms of burnout.
b. I am under stress, and don’t always have as much energy as I did, but I don’t feel burned out.
c. I am definitely burning out and have one or more symptoms of burnout, e.g., emotional exhaustion.
d. The symptoms of burnout that I am experiencing won’t go away. I think about work frustrations a lot.
e. I feel completely burned out. I am at the point where I may need to seek help.
2. The Mini-Z also contains the relevant dimensions:
Workload
My control over my workload is...
Sufficiency of time for documentation is...
The amount of time I spend on the electronic health record (EHR) at home is...
Cynicism:
My professional values are well aligned with those of my department leaders...
The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory has 19 items and was developed in 2005.[63] It has three scales with Likert anchors that as subjective severity but not frequency:
personal burnout
work burnout
client-related burnout
A systematic review comparing the quality of burnout scales has been published and found the CBI to have validity.[36] However, this review did not measure correlations between scales.
More recently, and a cross-sectional study that compared the Copenhagen to one-item versions of the MBI scales and found very similar rates of burnout.[64] A systematic review found that the Copenhagen reported an absolute 18% higher rate of burnout than did the MBI report.[65]
None of these three studies reported correlations between scales.
The Oldenburg Burnout Inventory has 16 items and was developed by Demerouti and others and has two scales with Likert anchors that as subjective severity but not frequency:[66][67]:
Disengagement scale. The highest loading item is "I find my work to be a positive challenge" and the second highest loading item is "I always find new and interesting aspects in my work"[68].
Exhaustion scale. The highest loading item is "After my work, I usually feel worn out and weary"[68].
Professional Fulfillment Index (PFI) (Stanford)[edit | edit source]
The PFI contains relevant dimensions including interpersonal disengagement[69]:
Thriving[30][31] and engagement[74][3] are negatively correlated with, and thus may be protective, against burnout. However, unhealthy engagement may lead to burnout.[32]
Perceived control or autonomy and fairness correlate with cynicism.[23][24]
Spirituality may be projective against burnout in medical students[77][78], medical residents/faculty[79][80], nurses[81] UK general practioners[82], and emergency medicine physicians[83].
Schaufeli found, consistent with Hockley’s State Regulation Model of Compensatory Control[84] that burnout can lead to somatic symptoms and that "burnout fully mediates the relationship between job demands and health problems."[85]
Institutional and individual strategies to reduce burnout have been reviewed[88]. Of 15 studies, 12 were "individual-focused" and only 3 addressed " structural interventions within the work environment"ref name="pmid27692469"/>.
Physicians may not be aware that they are burned out and providing awareness may increase engagement with addressing burnout[89].
↑ 2.02.1Maslach, Christina; Jackson, Susan E. (1981). "The measurement of experienced burnout". Journal of Organizational Behavior. Wiley-Blackwell. 2 (2): 99–113. doi:10.1002/job.4030020205. ISSN0894-3796.
↑ 3.03.1Schaufeli, Wilmar B.; Bakker, Arnold B.; Salanova, Marisa (2016). "The Measurement of Work Engagement With a Short Questionnaire". Educational and Psychological Measurement. 66 (4): 701–716. doi:10.1177/0013164405282471. ISSN0013-1644.
↑Schaufeli, Wilmar B.; Taris, Toon W.; van Rhenen, Willem (April 2008). "Workaholism, Burnout, and Work Engagement: Three of a Kind or Three Different Kinds of Employee Well-being?". Applied Psychology. 57 (2): 173–203. doi:10.1111/j.1464-0597.2007.00285.x. eISSN1464-0597. ISSN0269-994X.
↑ 5.05.15.2Schaufeli, W.B. and Bakker, A.B. (2004), Job demands, job resources, and their relationship with burnout and engagement: a multi‐sample study. J. Organiz. Behav., 25: 293-315. doi:10.1002/job.248
↑González-Romá, Vicente; Schaufeli, Wilmar B.; Bakker, Arnold B.; Lloret, Susana (February 2006). "Burnout and work engagement: Independent factors or opposite poles?". Journal of Vocational Behavior. 68 (1): 165–174. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2005.01.003. ISSN0001-8791.
↑Schaufeli, W. B., & Bakker, A. B. (2004). Job demands, job resources, and their relationship with burnout and engagement: A multi‐sample study. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 25(3), 293-315doi:10.1002/job.248
↑Karasek, Robert (1990). Healthy work : stress, productivity, and the reconstruction of working life. New York: Basic Books. ISBN0-465-02897-7.
↑ 23.023.123.223.3Leiter, Michael P., and Christina Maslach. "Areas of worklife: A structured approach to organizational predictors of job burnout." Emotional and physiological processes and positive intervention strategies. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2003. 91-134. doi:10.1016/S1479-3555(03)03003-8
↑ 24.024.1Fernet, Claude; Austin, Stéphanie; Trépanier, Sarah-Geneviève; Dussault, Marc (2013). "How do job characteristics contribute to burnout? Exploring the distinct mediating roles of perceived autonomy, competence, and relatedness". European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. Informa UK Limited. 22 (2): 123–137. doi:10.1080/1359432x.2011.632161. ISSN1359-432X.
↑Taris, Toon W., et al. "Job control and burnout across occupations." Psychological Reports 97.3 (2005): 955-961. doi:10.2466/pr0.97.3.955-961
↑Leiter, Michael P; Maslach, Christina. "AREAS OF WORKLIFE: A STRUCTURED APPROACH TO ORGANIZATIONAL PREDICTORS OF JOB BURNOUT". Research in Occupational Stress and Well-being. Emerald (MCB UP ). pp. 91–134. doi:10.1016/S1479-3555(03)03003-8. ISSN1479-3555.
↑ 30.030.1Porath, Christine, et al. "Thriving at work: Toward its measurement, construct validation, and theoretical refinement." Journal of Organizational Behavior 33.2 (2012): 250-275. doi:10.1002/job.756
↑Gulen B, Serinken M, Eken C, Karcıoglu Ö, Kucukdagli OT, Kilic E, Akpinar G, Nogay S, Kuh M (July 2016). "Serum S100B as a Surrogate Biomarker in the Diagnoses of Burnout and Depression in Emergency Medicine Residents". Acad Emerg Med. 23 (7): 786–9. doi:10.1111/acem.12973. PMID27018399.
↑ 49.049.149.2Veninga, Robert L.; Spradley, James P. (1981). The work/stress connection : how to cope with job burnout. Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown. ISBN0-316-80747-8. OCLC7205249.
↑ 54.054.1Rohland, Barbara M.; Kruse, Gina R.; Rohrer, James E. (2004). "Validation of a single-item measure of burnout against the Maslach Burnout Inventory among physicians". Stress and Health. 20 (2): 75–79. doi:10.1002/smi.1002. ISSN1532-3005.
↑Malakh-Pines, Ayala; Aronson, Elliot; Kafry, Ditsa (1981). Burnout : from tedium to personal growth. New York: Free Press. ISBN0-02-925350-0. OCLC6486538.
↑Thakore NL, Lan M, Winkel AF, Vieira DL, Kang SK (October 2024). "Best Practices: Burnout Is More Than Binary". AJR Am J Roentgenol: 1–20. doi:10.2214/AJR.24.31111. PMID39016454Check |pmid= value (help).
↑Hagan G, Okut H, Badgett RG (April 2024). "A Systematic Review of the Single-Item Burnout Question: Its Reliability Depends on Your Purpose". J Gen Intern Med. 39 (5): 818–828. doi:10.1007/s11606-024-08685-y. PMID38424346Check |pmid= value (help).
↑Kristensen T, Borritz M, Villadsen E, Christensen KB. The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: a new tool for the assessment of burnout. Work Stress. 2005;19(3):192–207 doi:10.1080/02678370500297720
↑Li H, Dance E, Poonja Z, Aguilar LS, Colmers-Gray I (July 2024). "Agreement between the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory among emergency physicians and trainees". Acad Emerg Med. doi:10.1111/acem.14994. PMID39082466Check |pmid= value (help).
↑Demerouti, E; Bakker, AB; Vardakou, I; Kantas, A (March 2003). "The Convergent Validity of Two Burnout Instruments". European Journal of Psychological Assessment. 19 (1): 12–23. doi:10.1027//1015-5759.19.1.12. eISSN2151-2426. ISSN1015-5759.
↑Dyrbye LN, Satele D, Sloan J, Shanafelt TD. Utility of a brief screening tool to identify physicians in distress. J Gen Intern Med. 2013 Mar;28(3):421-7. doi: doi:10.1007/s11606-012-2252-9. PMID: PMID23129161
↑Dyrbye LN, Satele D, Shanafelt T. Ability of a 9-Item Well-Being Index to Identify Distress and Stratify Quality of Life in US Workers. J Occup Environ Med. 2016 Aug;58(8):810-7. doi: doi:10.1097/JOM.0000000000000798. PMID: PMID27294444
↑Robert J. Hockey, G. (1997). "Compensatory control in the regulation of human performance under stress and high workload: A cognitive-energetical framework". Biological Psychology. 45 (1–3): 73–93. doi:10.1016/S0301-0511(96)05223-4.
↑Schaufeli, Wilmar B.; Bakker, Arnold B. (2004). "Job demands, job resources, and their relationship with burnout and engagement: a multi‐sample study". Journal of Organizational Behavior. 25 (3): 293–315. doi:10.1002/job.248. ISSN0894-3796.
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