Burnout in Swedish midwives

In many countries midwives tend to leave their profession. Factors associated with workforce attrition include high workload, stress, poor management and a lack of promotional opportunities. The aim of the study was to investigate Swedish midwives' levels of burnout and their attitudes towards leaving the profession.

A random sample of 1000 midwives who are members of the Swedish Midwifery Association were sent a questionnaire. Burnout was measured using the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. In addition the midwives were asked if they had experienced any situation that made them consider leaving their work and to give a comment about the reason.

475 of 978 Eligible midwives (48.6%) returned the questionnaire. The Cronbach alpha values ranged from 0.81 to 0.93 for the burnout subscales. One hundred and eighty four (39.5%) scored high in the subscale Personal burnout, while Work burnout and Client burnout was around 15%. The strongest associations between Burnout and midwives' characteristics were age <40, work and work experience <10 years. One in three midwives had considered leaving the profession. Lack of staff and resources and a stressful work environment was associated with all three subscales of midwives' burnout. Other important explanatory variables were conflict with work mates and/or mangers and worries about the future and own health.

More than one third of the midwives included in this survey reported some kind of burnout. Paying attention to midwives work is important in order to maintain a healthy, motivated midwifery workforce that will continue serving women and their families.