Work related characteristics, work-home and home-work interference and burnout among primary healthcare physicians: a gender perspective in a Serbian context.

BACKGROUND: Little information exists on work and stress related health of medical doctors in non-EU countries. Filling this knowledge gap is needed to uncover the needs of this target population and to provide information on comparability of health related phenomena such as burnout across countries. This study examined work related characteristics, work-home and home-work interference and burnout among Serbian primary healthcare physicians (PHPs) and compared burnout levels with other medical doctors in EU countries. METHODS: Data were collected via surveys which contained Maslach Burnout Inventory and other validated instruments measuring work and home related characteristics. The sample consisted of 373 PHPs working in 12 primary healthcare centres. Data were analysed using t-tests and Chi square tests. RESULTS: No gender differences were detected on mean scores of variables among Serbian physicians, who experience high levels of personal accomplishment, workload, job control and social support, medium to high levels of emotional exhaustion, medium levels of depersonalisation and work-home interference, and low levels of home-work interference. There were more women than men who experienced low job control and high depersonalisation. Serbian physicians experienced significantly higher emotional exhaustion and lower depersonalisation than physicians in some other European countries. CONCLUSIONS: To diminish excessive workload, the number of physicians working in primary healthcare centres in Serbia should be increased. Considering that differences between countries were detected on all burnout subcomponents, work-related interventions for employees should be country specific. The role of gender needs to be closely examined in future studies as well.

Road to help-seeking among (dedicated) human service professionals with burnout.

OBJECTIVE: Describe and interpret the process of help-seeking among human service professionals with burnout. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 participants. Analysis was conducted using principles of grounded theory. RESULTS: All participants were dedicated and responsible workers, selflessly giving themselves to their work. Work was demanding, and often included some form of organisational change. After a period of time the problems of ill health appeared, since persons were overstretching their resources. However, the symptoms were denied, since the image of the ideal worker has been internalised and persons expected maximum performance from themselves. They kept on working hard and delayed the help-seeking process. Eventually, help was sought for medical symptoms or by talking to the supervisors. If postponed for too long, persons experienced a breaking point. CONCLUSION: Human service professionals with burnout internalise the ideal image of their professional role. They strive to keep this ideal image at the cost of their own needs, taking a long time to seek help for the obstacles they encounter. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: More awareness raising is needed in order to recognise early burnout symptoms. Particularly crucial in this process are supervisors and doctors, who have an authority role over employees.