Occupational burnout and work factors in community and hospital midwives: a survey analysis

community-based midwifery practice has been promoted in the UK maternity policy over the last decade as a means of increasing continuity of care. However, there have been growing concerns to suggest that the community-based continuity model may not be sustainable due to the high levels of occupational burnout in midwives resulted by increased on-call work.

this paper attempted to identify work factors associated with the levels of burnout in community midwives as compared to hospital midwives, aiming at contributing to the debate of organising sustainable midwifery care.

a statistical analysis was conducted drawing on data from a survey of all midwives working at one Hospital Trust in England (n=238). Occupational burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI).

the sample midwives (n=128, 54%) had significantly higher levels of burnout compared to the reference groups. Multiple regression analysis identified as follows: (1) high levels of occupational autonomy were a key protective factor of burnout, and more prevalent in the community, (2) working hours were positively associated with burnout, and community midwives were more likely to have higher levels of stress recognition, and (3) support for work-life-balance from the Trust had a significant protective effect on the levels of burnout.

the results should be taken into account in the maternity policy in order to incorporate continuity of care and sustainable organisation of midwifery care.