Features of professional burnout of the staff of rehabilitation centers for wounded soldiers

Abstract

Introduction. In wartime, rehabilitation center staff (doctors, nurses, rehabilitators, psychologists, and other healthcare professionals) face a variety of emotional challenges in their work, which include deaths of patients and emotional support for patients and their families. These emotional burdens can lead to staff's professional burnout, which in turn can seriously reduce the effectiveness of provided medical services, as well as negatively affect staff's mental health. Aim: to measure the levels of professional burnout of the staff of rehabilitation centers for wounded soldiers and to determine the effects of the staff-organization interaction characteristics (work involvement and commitment to the organization) on staff’s burnout. Methods: Maslach-Jackson Burnout Syndrome in Professions of the Human-Human System, V. Schaufeli-A. Becker Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, Loyalty to the Organization Questionnaire by J. Grub, R. Dunham, and M. Castañeda, and the author's questionnaire-passport. Results. Two-thirds of the staff of rehabilitation centers for wounded soldiers had high and average levels of professional burnout of all its components. The rehabilitation centers staff's reduction of professional achievements was the most developed component of burnout, which was followed by emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization being the least developed component of burnout. Variance analysis found that staff-organization interaction factors (work involvement and commitment to the organization) can significantly decrease rehab center staff's professional and emotional burnout. Conclusions. The obtained results suggest the need for staff's burnout prevention and overcoming programs to implement in rehabilitation centers for wounded soldiers. Those programs could, in particular, focus on promoting staff's involvement in work and developing commitment to the organization.