Burnout indicators in teachers of occupational therapy: a pilot study

Abstract

Occupational therapists face risks to health that include exhibition to the anguish and difficult behaviour, long-term treatment and intervention with uncertain result. In regard to practice, occupational therapists who are also teachers, face duplicity of risk factors, that is, the ones related to the intervention as health professionals and those caused by educational practice. Health and education professionals have been presenting significant indicators of burnout, but the theme has been less studied in occupational therapists. The present study aimed to identify the presence of burnout indicators in occupational therapists who are also teachers, possible impacts on their health and in the quality of service provided for the students. Forty-six occupational therapists who are teachers in Occupational Therapy programs of public and private schools of the state of São Paulo took part in the research. For data collection the MBI (Maslach Burnout Inventory) protocol was used. Data were analysed by means of the statistical package SPSS version 13,0 and then organized in tables. The data were analyzed using the statistical package SPSS version 13,0 and organized into tables. The results were significant for the emotional exhaustion (44.2% of the sample showed average medium and high scores). In relation to depersonalization, 18,3% showed a medium and high average score and only 14,7% reported a decline in personal accomplishment fulfillment. Data revealed the importance of prevention measures and coping in regard to burnout, because the dimension of the emotional exhaustion is predictive for the others.