The relationship between burnout syndrome and automatic thoughts

Objective: Burnout is a subject that is intensely seen in job groups worked with people face to face and that is excessively worked on. The aim of the existing study is not only to investigate burnout for the health workers, which is not being sufficiently worked yet but also to examine the association of burnout with automatic thoughts. Methods: Participants comprised of doctors, nurses and the other health workers who are already working in Bozok University Faculty of Medicine Hospital. Health workers were given information about the study by interviewing face to face. A study group with 94 individuals was composed by the method of simple random sampling among the volunteers who wanted to participate in the study. Demographic Information Inventory, Maslach Burnout Inventory Scale and Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire were applied to per participant being taken in the study. Association between total burnout scores and total automatic thoughts scores was examined by Pearson Correlation Analyze. Additionally, independent-samples t-test was used to analyze the differences in the levels of burnout and automatic thoughts across gender and marital status. Results: In the study, there were 94 participants, 46 women and 48 men. Correlation Analyses exhibits statistically significant results between scores from MBI, two sub-scales of MBI -desensitization and emotional exhaustion- and automatic thoughts. In comparison across gender, women have higher automatic thoughts scores than men, however any differences were found in terms of marital and educational status. Discussion: In the present study, positive correlation between burnout and automatic thoughts particularly attracts attention. In the literature, in a lot of job groups, research that examines the reasons of burnout syndrome and the correlation between automatic thoughts and depression, perfectionism and chronicle fatigue exists. However, the correlation between burnout syndrome and automatic thoughts was not much searched. [Anadolu Psikiyatri Derg 2014; 15(2.000): 93-98]