Burnout and job satisfaction: A comparative study of psychiatric nurses from forensic and a mainstream mental health service

• Published in: International journal of mental health nursing Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 39 - 47
• Main Authors: Happell, Brenda, Martin, Trish, Pinikahana, Jaya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Melbourne, Australia Blackwell Science Asia Pty. Ltd 01.03.2003; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Attitude of Health Personnel; Australia; Burnout; Burnout, Professional - diagnosis; Burnout, Professional - epidemiology; Burnout, Professional - psychology; Community Health Nursing; forensic; Forensic psychiatric nurses; Forensic Psychiatry; Humans; Job Satisfaction; mainstream; mental health nursing; Mental Health Services; Mental illness; Nursing; Nursing Methodology Research; Nursing Staff - psychology; Prisons; Professional Autonomy; Psychiatric nurses; Psychiatric Nursing; Psychiatry; Quality of Health Care; Severity of Illness Index; Social Support; Statistics; Surveys; Surveys and Questionnaires; Victoria - epidemiology; Working conditions; Workload; Workplace - psychology; Victoria; Australia
• ISSN: 1445-8330; 1447-0349
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1440-0979.2003.00267.x

ABSTRACT Within the nursing profession stress and burnout are considered to be widely present and problematic. These factors tend to impact negatively on job satisfaction and ultimately affect the retention of nurses. Psychiatric/mental health nursing as a specialty is considered to be a highly stressful environment; however, there is a paucity of research in this area. The current study adopted a survey design to compare forensic psychiatric nurses (n = 51) with psychiatric nurses from a mainstreamed mental health service (n = 78) in relation to burnout and job satisfaction. Forensic nurses displayed lower burnout and higher job satisfaction than their counterparts from the mainstreamed services. These findings are surprising in light of the image of forensic psychiatric nursing as dangerous and unpredictable.