Prevalence and factors associated with burnout among university professors.

BACKGROUND

Burnout is one of the main examples of health disorders directly related to work. This is a psychological syndrome that results from exposure to stressors in the workplace and represents a considerable psychosocial problem.

OBJECTIVE

To establish the prevalence of and factors associated with burnout among professors at public and private universities.

METHODS

We administered two self-report questionnaires-one for sociodemographic, psychosocial, occupational and health-related data, and the other based on the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey-to professors at four public and private universities in Caicó, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. We subjected the data to univariate and bivariate analysis and also fitted a logistic regression model.

RESULTS

About 60% of the participants were categorized as in the earliest stage of burnout syndrome. Having a chronic disease and teaching a large number of courses were the only variables significantly associated with burnout. The average score on domain depersonalization was significantly higher among the participants who had a second job, those who reported to need professional updating and the ones who taught a large number of courses. The average score on domain emotional exhaustion was higher among the participants with some chronic disease and those with high blood pressure.

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of burnout was high in the analyzed sample of university professors. Early detection of burnout symptoms might favor early treatment.