Table 2.
Methodologically adequate studies on the association between psychosocial workload and emotional exhaustion/burnout
| First author, publication year | Study region | Study design |
Population |
Exposure | Outcome | Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Branch/Occupation; no. of companies | No. of subjects (response rate, mean age) | Time of baseline examination | Follow up (mean, range) | ||||||
| Ahola & Hakanen 2007 [45] |
Finland |
Follow-up study |
Finnish dentists (members of Finnish Dental Association) |
2,555 Finnish dentists (71% response of all Finnish dentists) |
2003 |
2006 (3 years), loss to follow-up 22% |
Job strain (Job Content Questionnaire - JCQ) |
Burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory - MBI) |
Subjects free of burnout at baseline, adjusted for depression at baseline: |
|
Men | |||||||||
| job strain: OR=22.3 (95% CI 5.1-98.1) | |||||||||
|
Women | |||||||||
| Job strain: OR=4.0 (95% CI 2.0-8.0) | |||||||||
| Subjects free of burnout but with depressive symptoms at baseline: | |||||||||
| Job strain: OR=2.2 (95% CI: 1.4-3.4) | |||||||||
| Subjects free of depression (measured by Beck Depression Inventory - BDI) at baseline, adjusted for baseline burnout: | |||||||||
| Job strain: OR=1.8 (95% CI: 1.04-3.1) | |||||||||
| Janssen and Nijhuis 2004 [46] |
Netherlands |
Follow-up study |
45 companies |
5,256 employees (response rate 45%, mean age 42.3±8.5 years) |
1998 |
1 year, loss to follow-up 20% |
(1) Psychological demands (JCQ, Dutch version) |
Burnout-subscale emotional exhaustion of MBI-GS (General Survey) |
Reduced emotional exhaustion: |
| (1) Decreased job demands: β=-0.16, p<0.001 | |||||||||
| (2) Decision latitude (JCQ, Dutch version) | |||||||||
| (2) Increased decision latitude: β=0.07, p<0.001 | |||||||||
| (3) Social support (JCQ, Dutch version) | |||||||||
| (3) Increased social support: β=-0.07, p<0.001 | |||||||||
| Langballe et al. 2011 [47] |
Norway |
Follow-up study |
physicians |
n=291 female physicians (response rate 74%, mean age 41.8±9.9 years), n=232 male physicians (response rate 64%, mean age 48.1±10.9 years) |
2005 |
2 years, loss to follow-up 21% (women) and 26% (men) |
(1) Perceived workload (3-item scale, based on the Job Stress Questionnaire - JSQ) |
Burnout-subscale exhaustion of Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI, Norwegian version) |
Women |
| (1) High workload (follow up): β=0.17, p<0.01 | |||||||||
| (2) autonomy (4-item scale, based on the Job Stress Questionnaire - JSQ) |
(2) High autonomy (follow up): β=0.07, n. s. |
||||||||
| (3) no. of hours worked per week |
(3) Working hours (baseline): β=0.01, n. s. |
||||||||
|
Men | |||||||||
| (1) High workload (follow up): β=0.31, p<0.01 | |||||||||
| (2) High autonomy (follow up): β=0.22, p<0.001 | |||||||||
| (3) Working hours (baseline): β=0.03, n. s. | |||||||||
| |
|||||||||
| Lorente Prieto et al. 2008 [48] |
Spain |
Follow-up study |
23 secondary schools |
N=274 teachers (response rate 81%, mean age 40±7.0 years, 43% men) |
n.r. |
8 months, loss to follow-up 43% |
(1) quantitative overload (3-item scale, instrument n. r.) |
burnout-subscale emotional exhaustion of MBI-GS |
(1) Quantitative overload (baseline): β=0.12, p<0.05 |
| (2) mental demands (6-item scale, instrument n. r.) |
Results for exposure no. (2)-(7) n. r., n. s. |
||||||||
| (3) emotional demands (7-item scale, instrument n. r.) | |||||||||
| Women feel more exhaustion (β=0.11, p<0.05) at follow-up than men | |||||||||
| (4) role ambiguity (6-item scale, instrument n. r.) | |||||||||
| (5) role conflict (8-item scale, instrument n.r.) | |||||||||
| (6) autonomy (5-item scale, instrument n. r.) | |||||||||
| (7) social climate (3-item climate scale of the FOCUS questionnaire [49] | |||||||||
| Taris et al. 2010 [50] |
Nether-lands |
Follow-up study |
Dutch police officers |
828 police officers, mean age 42.1±7.8 years, 85% men, response rate for baseline examination 53% |
n.r. |
1 year, loss to follow-up 57% |
(1) job demands (4-items of the JCQ) |
burnout-subscale emotional exhaustion of MBI-GS (Dutch version) |
(1) High demands: β=0.08, p<0.01 |
| (2) Job control: n. s. | |||||||||
| (2) job control (9-item scale: 1 item from JCQ, 3 items from Dutch Stress Questionnaire, 5 items from the NOVA-WEBA questionnaire [51] | |||||||||
| | |||||||||
| Van Vegchel et al. 2004 [52] | Sweden | Follow-up study | Human services | 2,255 human service employees, mean age 47.0±6.5 years, 41% men, response rate 76% | 1997 | 1 year, loss to follow-up 29% | (1) Quantitative demands (4-item scale based on the JCQ) |
Burnout-subscale emotional exhaustion of MBI (Swedish version) | Model 1: |
| (1) High quantitative demands: β=0.12, p<0.01 | |||||||||
| (2) Emotional demands (8-item scale) |
(3) Low job control: β=-0.10, p<0.05 |
||||||||
| (4) Low social support: β=-0.07, p<0.05 | |||||||||
| (3) Job control (8-item scale, instrument n. r.) | |||||||||
| Model 2: | |||||||||
| (4) Social support (7-item scale, instrument n. r.) | (2) High emotional demands: β=0.09, p<0.001 |
||||||||
| (3) Low job control: β=-0.10, p<0.05 | |||||||||
| (4) Low social support: β=-0.08, p<0.05 | |||||||||
Abbreviations: n. s. not significant, n. r. not reported, JCQ Job Content Questionnaire; MBI Maslach Burnout Inventory, MBI-GS Maslach Burnout Inventory – General Survey.