Level of Job Burnout among Midwives Working in Labour Rooms in Barcelona Region: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Nowadays, burnout syndrome (BS) symptoms appear to have increased in healthcareworkers, specifically midwives, but there are no studies on burnout among midwives in Catalonia. Thepresent study aimed to assess and describe the prevalence of BS in midwives working in labour rooms.Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 122 midwives working in 24 maternityhospitals in the Barcelona (region) which were selected using purposive sampling from January toMarch 2017. Data were collected using two questionnaires (demographic information, job burnoutusing Spanish Burnout Inventory with 20 items and four subscales). Data analysis was performedusing SPSS software version 21 and Chi-Square, U Mann-Whitney, and Kruskall-Wallis. p considered statistically significant.Results: None of the participants obtained a critical level of BS. 37 (30.33%) participants scoredmedium burnout and 47 (38.52%) recorded low burnout. Statistically, work stress (P=0.01), maritalstatus (P=0.006), attendance of more than three women per shift (P=0.001), the number of children(P=0.01), parity (P=0.005), health status (P=0.04), and being on sick leave over last year (P=0.04) weresignificantly correlated with medium-high levels of burnout. Burnout scores were higher in midwiveshaving a life partner and those without children.Conclusion: Following the results, no participant obtained a critical level of BS; about one-third ofthem scored medium-high burnout. However, specific interventions are suggested to be conducted tomaintain the midwives’ motivation and prevent burnout development.

Keywords

• burnout
• delivery room
• hospital
• midwifery
• survey