The status of occupational burnout among doctors in west China and its relationship with work-family conflict

Objective To investigate the current situation of occupational burnout of doctors in west China and to explore the relationships among burnout, social support and work-family conflicts. Methods 611 doctors in west China were assessed by Chinese Maslach burnout inventory(CMBI), social support rating scale(SSRS) and work-interference-with-family and family-interference-with-work questionnaire. Results 14.1% of the doctors in west China got high scores on emotional exhaustion(EE), 49.4% of them high scores on depersonalization(DP) and 33.1% high scores on reduced personal accomplishment(RPA); 27.3% experienced mild burnout, 43.7% moderate burnout and 3.3% severe burnout.Doctors who had worked for 5~10 years and those for 11~20 years experienced greater EE.Those doctors with bachelor or master degree and intermediate or senior titles got highest level of depersonalization.Doctors in second-class hospitals got highest scores of depersonalization, and those who worked in first-class hospital experienced the highest sense of achievement.Logistic regression analysis showed that social support was a protective factor for burnout, but the conflict between work and family was a risk factor. Conclusion The status of occupational burnout among the doctors in west China is in a grave condition, the balance between family and work, and social supporting is crucial for doctors to resist the occupational burnout. Key words: Occupational burnout; West China; Doctor; Social support; Work-family conflict