Burnout in volunteer health workers

• Published in: Giornale italiano di medicina del lavoro ed ergonomia Vol. 28; no. 3 Suppl 2; p. 77
• Main Authors: Argentero, P, Bonfiglio, N S, Pasero, R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Italian
• Published: Italy 01.07.2006
• Subjects: Burnout, Professional - epidemiology; Female; Hospital Volunteers; Humans; Male
• ISSN: 1592-7830

While diverse studies carried out in nursing and medical personnel have demonstrated that health workers can be subject to burnout, little effort has been focused on investigating burnout in volunteer hospital workers. The aim of the present study was to verify if burnout exists with volunteer auxiliary personnel and investigate what organizational conditions may favour it. The study was carried out on 80 volunteer workers of the Red Cross of Mortara (PV), subdivided into two categories: those performing emergency interventions and those performing routine services. For the evaluation of burnout, the Italian version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory was used, together with a qualitative type of methodology. A 5-factor multivariate analysis (sex x shift x team x seniority x role), having as dependent variables the three scales of the MBI, showed that the highest values of depersonalization and fulfillment are found in the emergency team, and that subjects with least seniority are those who are least satisfied or fulfilled. The category of team-leader resulted as that with the highest values of emotional burnout, while sex- and shift-based differences were restricted to routine service workers. Despite these differences, findings showed that subjects are minimally affected by problems linked to burnout, although some relational and organizational difficulties emerged with the medical staff that underlie a certain degree of professional dissatisfaction.