[Burnout Syndrome in Prison Guards, Bucaramanga, Colombia, 2013]

Burnout syndrome is defined as a chronic stress response and sustained work environment, characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment. Most studies have included teaching and health personnel. However, there are limitations in the development of studies on prison guards to observe this problem.

This study provides some characteristics of prison guards and seeks to highlight the behavior of the constructs of burnout according to demographic and occupational profile.

This was a descriptive cross-sectional study on 111 prison guards in the city of Bucaramanga. The Maslach Burnout Inventory was applied, as well as taking ethical considerations into account. A univariate and bivariate analysis was performed on the data.

The mean age was 35.8 years, 76% had more than 10 years work experience, 24% have some additional academic activities at work. Only 3.7% had burnout syndrome as such. In emotional exhaustion, 25.2% are classified as high risk, 30% in depersonalization, and 16% personal accomplishment. Within the personal achievement, the group with more than 20 years experience were those who had a critical score (ANOVA χ(2), P=.002). Of those who had a risk score for depersonalization, 67% had worked more than 240 extra hours a month, with a crude odds ratio (OR)=4.66 (P=.033) and age-adjusted OR=4.65 (P=.035).

Burnout in this occupational group was not as prevalent as in that found in other publications. In turn, of the three constructs, the most significant was depersonalization and no notable emotional burnout was observed. The most significant work variables were the number of hours worked and work experience.