Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Sources of stress and burnout in acute psychiatric care: inpatient vs. community staff

  • ORIGINAL PAPER
  • Published:
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Professionals who work alone or in small teams often provide services for people with serious mental health problems in community settings. Stress is common in community teams and this may cause burnout and threaten the quality and stability of the services. This study compares levels of burnout and sources of stress among community and acute ward staff in six European centres.

Methods

A total of 6 acute ward (N = 204) and community staff (N = 209) in 5 different European countries filled out the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), the Mental Health Professional Scale (MHPSS) the Agervold Questionnaire for psychosocial work environment (QPWES) in addition to a comprehensive demographic questionnaire.

Results

In the univariate analyses, except for Emotional Exhaustion (MBI), there were no differences in burnout between the two groups of staff. Community teams reported more organisational problems, higher work demands, less contact with colleagues, but also better social relations and more control over their work. The ward staff was more satisfied with the organisational structure and access to colleagues, but complained about lack of control over operating conditions at work. The multivariate analyses identified four groups of staff: (1) a Control-dissatisfied and Contact satisfied group (N = 184) with 2/3 coming from the wards. (2) A Contact-satisfied and Work-demand dissatisfied group (N = 147) with ¾ from the community staff. (3) A Control- and Contact dissatisfied group (N = 47) with a majority from community teams, and (4) a Contact- and Work demand satisfied group (N = 37) with a majority from the wards.

Conclusion

Burnout as measured was not a serious problem among community and ward staff members, and did not differentiate between the two groups. Acute ward working implied lack of control but much contact with colleagues, whereas community work entailed more control but demanding work in terms of difficult task and hard-to-find-solutions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Agervold M (1998) Measuring and changing the psychosocial work environment: theoretical background for the development of The Psychosocial Work Environment and Stress Questionnaire (in Danish) 1998. The Danish Work Environment Fund, Copenhagen

  2. Agervold M (1998) The Psychosocial Work Environment and Stress Questionnaire (PWSQ) (in Danish). The Danish Work Environment Fund, Copenhagen

  3. Breiman L, Friedman JH, Olshen RA, Stone CJ (1988) Classification and regression trees. Wadsworth, California

    Google Scholar 

  4. Burnard P, Edwards D, Fothergill A, Hannigan B, Coyle D (2000) Community mental health nurses in Wales: self-reported stressors and coping strategies. J Psychiatric Ment Health Nurs 7:523–528

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Butterworth T, Carson J, Jeacock J, et al. (1999) Stress, coping burnout and job satisfaction in British nurses; Findings from the Clinical Supervision Evaluation Project. Stress Med 15:27–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Carson J, Maal S, Roche S, et al. (1999) Burnout in mental health nurses: Much ado about nothing? Stress Med 15:127–134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Cushway D, Tyler PA, Nolan P (1996) Development of a stress scale for mental health professionals. Br J Clin Psychol 35:279–295

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Cushway D, Tyler PA, Nolan P (1996) Development of a stress scale for mental health professionals. Br J Clin Psychol 35:279–295

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Dunn LA, Ritter SA. Stress in mental health nursing: a review of the literature. In Carson J, Fagin K, Ritter S (eds) Stress and Coping in Mental Health, Chapman & Hall, London, pp 29–45

  10. Edwards D, Burnard P, Coyle D, Foterghill A, Hannigan B (2000) Stress and burnout in community mental health nursing: a review of the literature. J Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs 7:7–14

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Edwards E, Burnard P, Coyle D, et al. (2001) A stepwise multivariate analysis of factors that contribute to stress for mental health nurses working in the community. J Adv Nurs 36:805–813

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Galloway J (2002) Personal safety when visiting patients in the community. Adv Psychiatr Treat 8:214–222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Hopkinson PC, Carson J, Brown D, Fagin L, Bartlett H, Leary J (1998) occupational stress and community mental health nursing: what CPNs really said. J Adv Nurs 27:707–712

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Jenkins R, Elliott P (2004) Stressors, burnout and social support: nurses in acute mental health settings. J Adv Nurs 48:622–631

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Kilfedder CJ, Power KG, Wells TJ (2001) Burnout in psychiatric nursing. J Adv Nurs 34:383–396

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Maslach C, Jackson SE, Leiter MP. Maslach Burnout Inventory manual 3rd edn. Consult. Psychol Press, Palo Alto, CA

  17. Mehrotra S, Rao K, Subbakrishna DK (2000) Factor structure of the Mental Health Professionals Stess Scale (MHPSS) among clinical psychologists in India. Int J Soc Psychiatry 46:142–150

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Nolan P, Dallender J, Soares J, et al. (1999) Violence in mental health care: the experience of mental health nurses and psychiatrists. J Adv Nurs 30:934–941

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. OSCAR—Occupational Stress with mental health Clients in Acute Response. Middlesex University, Archway Campus, Archway, London

  20. Onyett S, Pillenger T, Muijen M (1997) Job satisfaction and burnout among members of community mental health teams. J Ment Health 6:55–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Priebe S, Kafhoury WKH, Hoffmann K, Powell RA (2005) Morale and job perception of community mental health professionals in Berlin and London. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 40:223–232

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Prosser D, Johnson S, Kuipers E, et al. (1996) Perceived sources of work stress and satisfaction among hospital and community mental health staff and their relationships to mental health, burnout and job satisfaction. J Psychosom Res 43:51–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Prosser D, Johnson S, Kuipers E, Dunn G, Szmukler G, Reid Y, Bebbington P, Thornicroft G (1999) Mental health, burnout and job satisfaction in a longitudinal study of mental health staff. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 34:295–300

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Reid Y, Johnson S, Morant N, Kuipers R, Szmukler G, Thornicroft T, Bebbington P, Prosser D (1999) Explanations for stress and satisfaction in mental health professionals: a qualitative study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 34:301–308

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Richardsen AM, Martinussen M (2004) The Maslach Burnout Inventory: Factorial validity and consistency across occupational groups in Norway. J Occupat Org Psychol 77:377–384

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Schutte N, Toppinen S, Kalimo R, Schaufeli W (2000) The factorial validity of the Maslach Burnout Inventory—Generaly Survey (MBI-GS) across occupational groups and nations. J Occupat Organizational Psychology 73:53–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. The Demographic Questionnaire—OSCAR (2002) Middlesex University, Archway Campus, London

Download references

Acknowledgement

The study was made possible by a grant from the EU (QLG4-CT-2001-01476)

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nordland Hospital Trust, 8092, Bodø, Norway

    Knut W. Sørgaard PhD & Ian Dawson

  2. Middlesex University, Archway Campus, London, UK

    Peter Ryan PhD

  3. South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, Beckenham, Kent, UK

    Robert Hill PhD, PsychD

Authors
  1. Knut W. Sørgaard PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Peter Ryan PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Robert Hill PhD, PsychD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ian Dawson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Consortia

the OSCAR group

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Knut W. Sørgaard PhD.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sørgaard, K.W., Ryan, P., Hill, R. et al. Sources of stress and burnout in acute psychiatric care: inpatient vs. community staff. Soc Psychiat Epidemiol 42, 794–802 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-007-0228-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-007-0228-6

Key words

Search

Navigation