Comparative Study of Burnout in Professional Caregivers of Institutionalized Elderly with Dementia and other Diseases

Abstract

In a global approach about the need of paying attention to staff working with and for older people with dementia and other diseases in residential care, it is necessary to investigate their emotional well-being to provide strategies to improve their quality of life and therefore their quality of patient care. Professional caregivers of people with dementia and other diseases have specific psycho-sociological problems. They are more prone to stress which can sometimes lead to the “burnout” due to specific functions in the workplace. To define the sample was decided to compare two residential centers of two regions, Murcia and Barcelona. We proceeded to the administration of the following measuring instruments: the scale Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and an ad hoc survey conducted for professional caregivers. Finally, the results offer the possibility of carrying out programs to prevent emotional exhaustion in professional carers, as well as the possibility of designing psychoeducational programs for staff care and even future proactive and reactive interventions.

Burnout and empathy among professional caregivers of elderly

“…Recientes estudios abogan por la idea de que el agotamiento emocional que es un constructo clave en la formación del síndrome, puede surgir desde el mismo comienzo de la formación universitaria, antes de la incorporación al mundo laboral, en los primeros contactos durante las prácticas (Faye-Dumanget, Abdel-Halim, y Marjolet, 2015). Los cuidadores profesionales de residencias son un colectivo diana para sufrir el síndrome debido a las características de sus funciones, presentando altos niveles de estrés y altas puntuaciones en las dimensiones que conforman el burnout (Méndez, Secanilla, Martínez, y Navarro, 2011;Otero-López, Villardefrancos, Castro, y Santiago, 2014;Gastaldi, Pasta, Longobardi, Prino, y Quaglia, 2014) y en la estabilidad de las puntuaciones en despersonalización transcurrido el tiempo (Martínez, Méndez, Secanilla, y González, 2012). Se trata de un grupo de profesionales expuesto a una gran carga la cual puede provenir de variables muy diversas y cuyo origen se encuentra en la actualidad en proceso de análisis (Crespo y Rivas, 2015).…”