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BMC Public Health
Published in: BMC Public Health 1/2010

Open Access 01-12-2010 | Research article

A three-year cohort study of the relationships between coping, job stress and burnout after a counselling intervention for help-seeking physicians

Authors: Karin E Isaksson Ro, Reidar Tyssen, Asle Hoffart, Harold Sexton, Olaf G Aasland, Tore Gude

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2010

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Abstract

Background

Knowledge about important factors in reduction of burnout is needed, but there is a dearth of burnout intervention program studies and their effects among physicians. The present three-year follow-up study aimed to investigate the roles of coping strategies, job stress and personality traits in burnout reduction after a counselling intervention for distressed physicians.

Methods

227 physicians who attended a counselling intervention for burnout at the Resource Centre Villa Sana, Norway in 2003-2005, were followed with self-report assessments at baseline, one-year, and three-year follow-up. Main outcome measures were emotional exhaustion (one dimension of burnout), job stress, coping strategies and neuroticism. Changes in these measures were analyzed with repeated measures ANOVA. Temporal relationships between changes were examined using structural modelling with cross-lagged and synchronous panel models.

Results

184 physicians (81%, 83 men, 101 women) completed the three-year follow-up assessment. Significantly reduced levels of emotional exhaustion, job stress, and emotion-focused coping strategies from baseline to one year after the intervention, were maintained at three-year follow-up.
Panel modelling indicated that changes in emotion-focused coping (z = 4.05, p < 0.001) and job stress (z = 3.16, p < 0.01) preceded changes in emotional exhaustion from baseline to three-year follow-up. A similar pattern was found from baseline to one-year follow-up.

Conclusion

A sequential relationship indicated that reduction in emotion-focused coping and in job stress preceded reduction in emotional exhaustion. As a consequence, coping strategies and job stress could be important foci in intervention programs that aim to reduce or prevent burnout in help-seeking physicians.
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Metadata
Title
A three-year cohort study of the relationships between coping, job stress and burnout after a counselling intervention for help-seeking physicians
Authors
Karin E Isaksson Ro
Reidar Tyssen
Asle Hoffart
Harold Sexton
Olaf G Aasland
Tore Gude
Publication date
01-12-2010
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2010
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-213

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