Korean J Occup Environ Med.  2010 Sep;22(3):173-182.

The Relationship between Occupational Stress and Burnout among Occupational Therapists

• Kim JJ
• Roh JH
• Won JU
• Lee SY
• Chang SJ

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
A growing body of research has documented that occupational stress is associated with workers' adverse health outcomes such as mental distress, depression and burnout. This study was performed to identify the relationship between occupational stress and burnout among occupational therapists in Korea.
METHODS
A total of 226 occupational therapists registered in the Korean Association of Occupational Therapist participated in the study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess demographics, subjective health status, work-related factors, occupational stress and burnout. Burnout was measured by Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Occupational stressors were assessed using 26-items of the Korean Occupational Stress Scale (KOSS-26(R)). This scale consists of items targeting at physical environment, job demand, insufficient job control, interpersonal conflict, job insecurity, lack of reward, organizational system and occupational climate. Simple and multiple regression analyses were performed to investigate the relationship between 8 occupational stressors and burnout, separately. SAS 9.1 version was used for the analyses, and a P<0.05 was considered significant.
RESULTS
The results show that all occupational stressors were associated with burnout after adjustment for control variables. Occupational stressors accounted for from 14.39% (p<0.001, organizational system) to 33.21% (p<0.001, occupational climate) of the variance in burnout.
CONCLUSION
These results suggest that occupational stress might play a significant role in increasing the risk of burnout among occupational therapists.

Keyword

Occupational therapist; Occupational stress; Korean Occupational Stress Scale-26(R) (KOSS-26(R))

MeSH Terms

Climate
Demography
Depression
Korea
Phenothiazines
Questionnaires
Reward
Phenothiazines