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. 2025 Aug 26;68(Suppl 1):S972. doi: 10.1192/j.eurpsy.2025.1975

Predisposition to boredom and anxio-depressive disorders among nurses : A cross-sectionl descriptive study

I Kacem 1, A Ghenim 1, O Ajmi 2, M Bouhoula 1, N Belhadj 1, A Chouchane 1, S Ben Abderrahmen 1, A Aloui 1,*, N Mrizak 1
PMCID: PMC12438387

Abstract

Introduction

Bore-out affects three times as many employees as burn-out. It results from a lack of activity during work, and the healthcare sector, due to its monotony, promotes the emergence of these disorders

Objectives

Study the predisposition of hospital nurses to boredom, and investigate a possible relationship between this predisposition and their anxiety-depression profile.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in April 2022 involving all nurses at the Sahloul University Hospital in Sousse. We used a pre-established questionnaire that included two validated tools: the Boredom Proneness Scale (BP) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD).

Results

A total of 65 nurses took part in this study. The mean age was 36.62 ± 4.82 years and the sex ratio was 0.38. According to the BP Scale, 13 nurses were inclined towards boredom (20%). A predisposition to boredom has been observed among staff with less than 8 years of seniority (p= 0.001), those with no extracurricular activities (p= 0.020), those with a moderate or severe workload (p= 0.008), and those whose profession had no impact on their relationships with others (p= 0.012).The depression score on the HAD scale was moderate (32%), average (20%), and severe (12%). The HAD scale revealed that 29% of people had mild anxiety, 23% had moderate anxiety, and 12% had severe anxiety. No statistically significant relationship was found between the boredom disposition scale and the HAD scale.

Conclusions

Bore-out can worsen anxiety and depressive disorders by causing boredom and frustration. It is crucial to promote an engaging and varied work environment to protect employees’ mental health.

Disclosure of Interest

None Declared


Articles from European Psychiatry are provided here courtesy of Cambridge University Press

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