Development of burnout in middle-aged working women: a longitudinal study

The present study had two aims: first, to identify developmental patterns of burnout in middle-aged women from the working population and, second, to evaluate whether work-related and individual factors are associated with concurrent changes in burnout.

The study design was longitudinal and used a random, population-based sample of urban middle-aged women. One baseline and two follow-up assessments were carried out during a 9-year period. At baseline, 142 women participated. Complete data were available for 116 women, who constituted the sample of the present study. Burnout was assessed using the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Questionnaire (SMBQ). In order to identify typical developmental patterns (trajectories) hierarchical cluster analysis was used. Within-group changes in burnout levels over time were analyzed using repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA).

When using a variable-based approach, the results showed no significant changes in burnout over time. However, underlying these levels, six trajectories were identified. These clusters represented four different developmental patterns: high levels followed by recovery, increasing levels, increasing and diminishing levels, and stable levels.

In contrast to previous research suggesting that burnout is a stable construct over time, the present study identified distinct subgroups of women showing different developmental patterns of burnout during a 9-year period. Furthermore, our findings showed that the development of burnout was accompanied by concurrent changes in life stress as well as work-related and individual factors.