Burnout in physiotherapists: Use of clinical supervision and desire for emotional closeness or distance to clients

Abstract

Aims: This study aimed to investigate burnout among physiotherapists in hospitals within four health districts in South Tyrol (the German and Italian speaking area of Italy). Method: Data were collected anonymously by envelope. The German version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-D) ( Büssing and Perrar, 1992 ; Büssing and Glaser, 1998 ), socio-demographic, occupational data, the use of clinical supervision or support and the desire for emotional distance and closeness to clients were recorded. Questionnaires were sent to 191 physiotherapists in South Tyrol; and 132 participated in the study (return rate 69.63%). Results: In the MBI-D, which contains three scales: ‘emotional exhaustion’, ‘depersonalisation’ and ‘personal accomplishment’; the risk of burnout is reflected in high values in the emotional exhaustion and the depersonalisation scales and low values in personal accomplishment. The present study found that about 35% of the physiotherapists who responded to the questionnaire showed burnout risk in emotional exhaustion, 18% in depersonalisation and 14% in personal accomplishment. This is in agreement with many other studies conducted among health professionals. Gender differences were observed only on the depersonalisation scale, with men scoring higher than women. No differences were found regarding length of stay in the profession. Only one third of physiotherapists are offered clinical supervision or support by their employer but about 50% of physiotherapists sought psychological support. The use of supervision or support was 2.72 times more likely when available at work than not. Contrary to expectations, the impact of supervision or support did not reach significance in the burnout scales. The desire for more closeness is predicted by gender (male), higher emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation, and the desire for more distance is predicted by higher emotional exhaustion. Conclusions: More attention to mental hygiene and support in the workplace and during training would help to prevent burnout among physiotherapists, and benefit the profession, patients and organisations.

Clinical supervision, burnout and intent to leave: an Australian mixed methods study of community-based allied health professionals

“…Studies confirm high levels of stress and burnout in the allied health workforce as defined by criteria levels on the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Bennett et al, 2005;Fischer et al, 2013). Findings suggest that health care workers who experience high job demands, without sufficient job resources, may be at 45 increased risk of adverse health outcomes, compared with similar conditions in other sectors of the workforce (Hu, Schaufeli, Toon, & Taris, 2011).…”

“…5) Health care workers exhibit high levels of stress and burnout and are located within health care systems which will be under increasing pressures into the future High levels of stress and burnout have been found in health care workers (Barker, Cornwell, & Gishen, 2016;Marine, Ruotsalainen, Serra, & Verbeek, 2009), including amongst the allied health professions (Chiller & Crisp, 2012;Fischer et al, 2013). There is evidence that healthcare workers experience higher levels of stress and burnout in comparison to the general workforce (Michie & Williams, 2003;Wells, 2011).…”

“…For example, findings from a study of 132 physiotherapists working in Italian hospitals reported no association between the use of supervision and levels of burnout (Fischer et al, 2013). Further research, employing rigorous methods and psychometrically valid measures, is required to clarify this relationship and to determine the characteristics of clinical supervision that are linked to effectiveness.…”

“…The empirical literature documents the occurrence of high levels of stress and burnout in health care workers (Barker et al, 2016;Lloyd, King, & Chenoweth, 2002;Marine et al, 2009), including allied health professionals (Chiller & Crisp, 2012;Fischer et al, 2013).…”

“…For example, findings from a study of 132 physiotherapists working in Italian hospitals reported no association between the use of supervision and levels of burnout (Fischer et al, 2013). The researchers defined the term supervision to cover a broad range of activities comprising individual supervision, group supervision and psychotherapy.…”