Levels of Burnout among EU & ICU Nurses- Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

74 Pages·2014·5.79 MB·English

Erasmus Mundus Master Course in
Emergency and Critical Care Nursing

Erasmus Mundus Master Course in Emergency and
Critical Care Nursing (EMMECC NURSING)

“Levels of Burnout among EU & ICU Nurses- Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia: A Cross-sectional Descriptive Study”

Yavello Nataye Yatasa, BScN
10.02.2014

Master’s Thesis
Erasmus Mundus Master Course in
Emergency and Critical Care Nursing
Erasmus Mundus Master Course in
Emergency and Critical Care Nursing

Erasmus Mundus Master Course in Emergency and Critical
Care Nursing (EMMECC NURSING)

“Levels of Burnout among EU & ICU Nurses- Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia: A cross-sectional Descriptive Study”

Yavello Nataye Yatasa, BScN Antti Neimi, PhD

Master’s Thesis
Erasmus Mundus Master Course in
Emergency and Critical Care Nursing

ERASMUS MASTER COURSE IN EMERGENCY AND CRITICAL CARE NURSING

Antti Niemi, Doctor of Philosophy from Helsinki, Metropolia University of Applied Science, and
principal lecturer as Professor of the Erasmus Master Course in Emergency and Critical Care
Nursing, or Associate Center of the Consortium.

CERTIFY/IES:
That the Master´s Thesis submitted by Mr. Yavello Nataye Yatasa, entitled “Levels of burnout among
EU & ICU Nurses-Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A cross-sectional descriptive study”, carried out under the
supervision of Dr. Antti Niemi in the Erasmus Master Course in Emergency and Critical Care Nursing,
meets the necessary requirements to be approved as a Master´s Thesis.

And for the record, and for the relevant purposes, the present certification is issued in Oviedo, on
February 10, 2014
Acknowledgement

First and for most, I would like to thank almighty God, the source of all my energy,
health and resources.
Next, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Antti Niemi,
for his all rounded support from start to finish of this thesis work.
My sincere gratitude also goes to my family and friends who are always stood by my
side, encouraged me, and supported me in all circumstances, including this success.
I would also like to express my gratitude to the European Commission Erasmus
program in Emergency and Critical Care for having faith in me and giving me the chance
to fulfill my dreams through taking part in the program. I am grateful to all professors
of the consortium institutions who contributed to my professional development and this
thesis work in one or the other way.
Finally, I would like to thank all the nurses who took part in my research sacrificing their
valued times for my work and hospital administrators who opened their doors for me in
the name of science.
I thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgement .........................................................................................................I
List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................... IV
Abstract ....................................................................................................................... V
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................1
1.1. Background and Statement of the Problem .....................................................1
1.2. Significance of the study .................................................................................4
2. Literature Review ...................................................................................................6
2.1. Burnout: Definition, History and Measurements ..............................................6
2.2. Theories & Developmental Models of Burnout ................................................8
2.3. Burnout and Nursing Profession......................................................................9
2.4. Outcomes of Previous Burnout Studies .........................................................12
3. Purpose, Aim & Objectives of the Study ..............................................................16
3.1. Purpose of the study .....................................................................................16
3.2. Aim of the study .............................................................................................16
3.3. Specific Objectives of the study ....................................................................16
4. Methods & Materials ...............................................................................................17
4.1. Study area & Period .........................................................................................17
4.2. Study design ....................................................................................................17
4.3. Source population ............................................................................................17
4.3.1. Inclusion Criteria ........................................................................................18
4.3.1. Exclusion Criteria .......................................................................................18
4.4. Study population ..............................................................................................18
4.5. Sample size......................................................................................................18
4.6. Sampling procedure .........................................................................................19
4.7. Data collection procedures ...............................................................................19
4.8. Data collection tools .........................................................................................20
4.9. Study variables .................................................................................................21
4.10. Operational definitions ...................................................................................21
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4.11. Data analysis procedures ...............................................................................22
4.12. Data Quality Control .......................................................................................22
4.13. Ethical consideration ......................................................................................23
4.14. Dissemination of results .................................................................................23
5. Results ...................................................................................................................25
5.1. Nurses’ characteristics .....................................................................................25
5.2. Reliability Test of the Amharic Version of the Instrument .................................27
5.3. Nurses’ Characteristics and Means of MBI-HSS Sub-scales ...........................28
5.4. Nurses’ levels of burnout ..................................................................................29
5.5. Relationships between MBI-HSS sub-scales and nurses’ perception of their
health status, quality of life, and satisfaction with job ..............................................30
6. Discussion ..............................................................................................................33
6.1 Levels of burnout according to burnout dimensions ..........................................33
6.2. Burnout dimensions and nurse-related demographic characteristics ...............34
6.3. Burnout dimensions and work area-related characteristics ..............................36
6.4. Health problems experienced by participant nurses .........................................37
6.5. Burnout dimensions and perceptions of health status, quality of life & job
satisfaction ..............................................................................................................37
6.6. Limitation of the study ......................................................................................38
7. Conclusion ..............................................................................................................39
8. Recommendations..................................................................................................40
9. References .............................................................................................................41
Appendices .....................................................................................................................

III
List of Abbreviations
BOS: Burnout Syndrome
DP: Depersonalization
EE: Emotional exhaustion
EMMECC: Erasmus Mundus Master in Emergency and Critical Care
EU: Emergency Unit
HSS: Human Services Survey
ICU: Intensive Care Unit
IPDs: Inpatient Departments
MBI: Maslach’s Burnout Inventory
MBI-ES: Maslach’s Burnout Inventory Educational Survey
MBI-GS: Maslach’s Burnout Inventory General Survey
MBI-HSS: Maslach’s Burnout Inventory Human Services Survey
NICU: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
OLBI: Oldenburg Burnout Inventory
OPDs: Outpatient Departments
PA: Personal achievement
IV
Abstract
Background: Nursing is a stressful profession that deals with human aspects of health
and illness and can ultimately lead to burnout and job dissatisfaction. The profession is
not only physically demanding while dealing with human health and function, but also
necessitates the use mental energy and leads to mental exhaustion when one is
continuously exposed to stressful events and situations which eventually leads to
burnout.
Aim: To identify and describe levels of burnout and its association with individual & work
area related characteristics among nurses working in emergency & intensive care units
of hospitals in Addis Ababa.
Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted using structured self-
administered questionnaire among emergency & intensive care nurses working in 11
hospitals in Addis Ababa.
Results: A total of 297 questionnaires were distributed with response rate of 58.92%,
which totals 175 participants. Forty-four nurses (25.2%), 25 (14.3%) nurses and 30
(17.1%) nurses in the study had high levels of emotional exhaustion (EE) and
depersonalization (DP), and low personal achievement (PA) respectively, which shows
that a significant number of participants had high levels of burnout. Means of EE & DP
were slightly higher among men where these two dimensions showed decrement with
increased age. Lower EE & DP were recoded among diploma nurses compared to
participants holding bachelor’s degree. Significant numbers of participant nurses have
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perceived their health status (9.1%), quality of life (9.1%) and job satisfaction (16.6%)
as poor. Slightly more than 46% participants reported headache, over 38% backache,
and over 31% reported sleep disorders as a consequence of their job stress. A
statistically significant negative correlation was found between EE and perception of
health status (Ƿ=-0.238, α=0.001).
Conclusion: This study presents a strong evidence that a significant proportion of
nurses experience mental and physiological disturbances due to the stress from their
jobs, in hospitals of Addis Ababa.
Keywords: Burnout; Nursing; Emergency; Intensive care

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