Psychopathological Factors Associated With Burnout in Intensive Care Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study

Although previous studies have separately revealed that parameters such as anxiety, depression, and secondary traumatic stress (STS) are associated with burnout, there is still a limited understanding of the relationship between anxiety, depression, and STS and burnout in intensive care unit (ICU) nurses.

To investigate the relationship between levels of burnout, anxiety, depression, and STS in ICU nurses.

A cross-sectional study was conducted with ICU nurses (N = 164) from a university hospital in eastern Turkey. The participants completed the anxiety, depression, STS, and burnout scales along with the descriptive characteristics form. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation, and logistic regression analysis.

The mean scores for STS, anxiety, depression, and burnout were 40.60 ± 13.77, 17.14 ± 12.90, 13.28 ± 9.75 and 41.39 ± 14.87, respectively. The results showed that, in the ICU nurses, anxiety, depression, and STS components explained 61% of emotional exhaustion, 38% of depersonalization, and 13% of personal accomplishment.

While the present findings supported the paradigm that burnout in ICU nurses is associated with STS, anxiety, and depression, they also revealed some details about the psychopathological factors associated with burnout. These details were as follows: (1) individuals who resorted to avoidance as a component of STS on a high level were more likely to experience emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, (2) individuals with severe depressive symptoms were more likely to experience a decrease in their personal accomplishment, and (3) individuals with anxiety symptoms were more likely to experience both emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment.