Burnout levels among staff at the Psychiatric Hospital of Paraguay: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction: Burnout syndrome is a form of occupational exhaustion linked to chronic work stress, particularly relevant among mental health professionals because of high emotional demand, continuous exposure to psychological suffering, and the complexity of psychiatric care.

Objective: To determine burnout levels among staff at the Psychiatric Hospital of Paraguay and to compare its dimensions between clinical (white-coat) staff and administrative personnel.

Materials and methods: A non-experimental, cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted. A non-probability sample of 32 workers from the Psychiatric Hospital of Paraguay was included, drawn from a population of 34 people. The Maslach Burnout Inventory was used to assess emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Shapiro–Wilk normality testing was applied. Depending on score distributions, parametric and non-parametric procedures were used for between-group comparisons.

Results: Participants included 18 women, 12 men, and 2 people who preferred not to state their sex. Twenty-three participants were clinical staff and 9 were administrative staff. In both categories, the medium level predominated across the three burnout dimensions. For emotional exhaustion, the medium level was observed in 47.8% of clinical staff and 44.4% of administrative staff; the latter also concentrated 44.4% at the high level. For depersonalization, the medium level likewise predominated, with 43.5% among clinical staff and 44.4% among administrative staff. For personal accomplishment, the medium category was the most frequent in both groups. Comparison tests showed no statistically significant differences between clinical and administrative staff for emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, or personal accomplishment.

Conclusions: In this sample from the Psychiatric Hospital of Paraguay, medium burnout levels predominated across its three dimensions, with no statistically significant differences between clinical and administrative staff, suggesting occupational exhaustion distributed across both groups and supporting the need for institutional preventive measures.