Impact of traumatic perinatal events on burnout rates among midwives

Little is known about the prevalence of burnout among Irish midwives and how traumatic perinatal events in work contributes to this.

To establish the prevalence of burnout among midwives in Ireland and whether exposure to traumatic perinatal events in work contributes to this.

A cross-sectional study utilizing a designed questionnaire was carried out in a tertiary-referral maternity hospital involving all clinical midwives (n = 248). Demographic details and frequency of perinatal events deemed traumatic were recorded. The extent of distress was documented on two visual analogues read in combination to reflect the impact of the distressing events. Burnout severity was assessed using the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory.

The response rate was 55% (n = 137). Mean scores for personal, work-related and patient-related burnout were 56.0, 55.9 and 34.3, respectively. Over 90% of respondents experienced exposure to a traumatic event in work in the previous year, with 58% reporting a frequency of monthly or greater. No significant relationship was demonstrated between frequency of trauma and burnout; however, the extent of distress experienced was positively related to burnout in each domain (R2 = 0.18, 0.15 and 0.09, respectively, P < 0.01). A modest negative linear relationship exists between personal and work-related burnout and increasing age (ρ = -0.25 and -0.27, P < 0.01). A significant difference in work-related burnout score was evident between midwives with less experience and more experienced colleagues (P < 0.01).

Burnout is common among midwives. Exposure to discrete traumatic perinatal events experienced by women under their care contributes to this.