Burn-out and correlated factors of nurses and health care workers in 23 nursing homes in Liguria (Italy)

Background Nurses and health care workers in nursing homes are often affected by burn-out. But what about the correlated factors indicating vulnerability or protection? Methods 490 operators of 23 nursing homes (Local Health Unit-LHU 1, Liguria, Italy), were measured (2013) regarding their level of burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory, 1981, italian version; 22 items, 3 subscales: Emotional Exhaustion, EE; Personal Accomplishment, PA; Depersonalization, D), their self reported sleep quality (four level items), their level of instruction (professional nurse vs lower instructed healthcare worker), the days of absence from work for any illness during the last year, the years of work in the same professional field and the country of origin. Results 435 (88,8%) were female, mean age and SD: 44,53 (+/- 13,5), 121 (24,7%) were nurses, 139 (28,4%) had other countries of origin than Italy. Personal Accomplishment correlated with the level of higher qualification (Anova, p = 0.01). Absent days of work correlated with the subscale Depersonalization (ANOVA, p = 0.0386). Bad quality of sleep correlated to high levels of Emotional Exhaustion (Mann-Whitney, p < 0.000) and of Depersonalization (Mann-Whitney, p < 0.000). The years of work in the same professional field (regression) was highly correlated to the subscale EE (p = 0.016). Considering only the Italians the correlation persisted (p = 0.029), every 0.824 years of work the operators had a higher level of EE. Considering only the other nationalities the correlation did non persist anymore (p = 0.486). Every 0.530 years the level of EE appeared better even if this did not reach statistically significant levels. Generally the levels between Italians and operators with other nationalities differed in a highly significant way (ANOVA, p = 0.008), Italians had higher levels of EE. Conclusions It seems that bad sleep and days of absence from work for any illness can be seen as indirect risk signs of burn-out. Higher level of instruction and a foreign country of origin can be interpreted as protective against burn-out in our context. Bibliograpy: Maslach C., Jackson S.E. (1981) MBI: Maslach Burnout Inventory. Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, CA (tr. it. a cura di Sirigatti S., Stefanile S., (1993) MBI Maslach Burnout Inventory. Adattamento italiano. O.S. Organizzazioni Speciali, Firenze. Key messages Indirect signs like sleeplessness and/or absent days for any illness might help to discover burn-out in time. The surprising fact that another country of origin has a protective function against burn-out might be due to another cultural approach to a work in nursing homes.