A burning issue: Exploring incidence and predictors of burnout in Australian diabetes educators

Abstract

Introduction Aims Burnout, a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and perceived reduced personal accomplishment, is characterised by a lack of enthusiasm and motivation, feelings of ineffectiveness and frustration resulting in reduced workplace efficacy. This pioneer study of Australian Diabetes Educators examined the incidence of burnout and influence of predictors including support, hours worked, age and geographical location. Methods Participants were recruited through social media, the ADEA email newsletter, and direct email contact. The final sample consisted of 140 Diabetes Educators (131 females) aged 31-68yrs and working 2-61hrs/week. Participants completed self-report measures of burnout, social support, organisational support and demographic questions. Results Results suggest increased burnout is associated with reduced social and organisational support and lower age, but not hours worked. Of the Diabetes Educators in the present sample 27.9% had high levels of emotional exhaustion, 5.0% had high levels of depersonalisation, and 10.0% had low levels of perceived personal accomplishment. Medium burnout levels of emotional exhaustion were experienced by 20.7%, depersonalisation by 10.0%, and perceived personal accomplishment by 16.4% of respondents respectively. There was strong overall prediction of emotional exhaustion with about 24% of the variance explained. The strongest predictors of increased emotional exhaustion were lower age, rural location, smaller support networks and low organisation support. Overall prediction of depersonalisation was 15% of the variance explained, with lower age and lower organisational support contributing strongly to depersonalisation. The overall model for perceived personal accomplishment explained 5% of the variance. Lower perceived personal accomplishment was mainly predicted by lower organisation support, smaller support networks, and lower age. Australian Diabetes Educators sampled experienced lower burnout rates than the average US medical community but similar burnout levels as other Australian healthcare professionals. Conclusions Overall, findings suggest that social and organisational support interventions may be useful additions to interventions that target burnout, overall work engagement and psychological health in Australian Diabetes Educators.