Burnout, role conflict, job satisfaction and psychosocial health among Hungarian health care staff: A questionnaire survey

Background There is a growing interest in the psychosocial work environment of health care staff since they are at high risk for burnout, role conflict and job dissatisfaction. Burnout, as a type of prolonged response to chronic job-related stressors, has a special significance in health care where staff experience both psychological–emotional and physical stress. Burnout and the other negative aspects of the job of health care staff have major behavioural and health implications. Objectives The present study investigated the interrelationships among burnout, role conflict and job satisfaction in a sample of Hungarian health care staff. The study also investigated how these indicators of psychosocial work climate influence respondents’ frequency of psychosomatic symptoms. Design A questionnaire survey (anonymous questionnaires) has been carried out to detect these interrelationships. Settings Two major hospitals in Szeged, Hungary. Participants Questionnaires were distributed to 450 health care staff among whom 55.7% were registered nurses. All together, 201 questionnaires were returned and analyzed, giving a response rate of 44.6%. Methods Questionnaire contained items on work and health-related information (i.e., burnout, job satisfaction, role conflict, and psychosomatic symptoms) and on some basic sociodemographics. Beyond descriptive statistics, correlation and multiple regression analyses were computed. Results Findings show that emotional exhaustion and depersonalization scores were higher, while scores on personal accomplishment was lower as compared to Canadian, Norwegian or US samples. Burnout, particularly emotional exhaustion (p<.001), was found to be strongly related to job dissatisfaction. Schooling was inversely related to satisfaction with the job (p<.05). While job satisfaction was a negative predictor of each type of burnout subscale (p<.001), role conflict was a factor contributing positively to emotional exhaustion (p<.001) and depersonalization scores (p<.001). Conclusions The study results underline the importance of the role of psychosocial work environment and the interrelationships among burnout, role conflict, job satisfaction and psychosomatic health among Hungarian health care staff.