Burnout syndrome in dentists: Work-related factors

To study the sociodemographic and work-related factors that affect the level of burnout syndrome in Spanish dentists through an observational epidemiological study.

An online survey answered by 1298 Spanish dentists was used to record their gender, age, work environment, number of practices in which they work, whether they work alone or not, whether they own or co-own the practice, years of experience, working hours per week, and their answers to the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-HSS). A univariate analysis was carried out to study the relationship between the work-related and sociodemographic factors examined for each of the three dimensions of burnout: Emotional Exhaustion (EE), Depersonalisation (DP) and Personal Accomplishment (PA). Subsequently, multivariate logistic regression models were fitted.

The percentage of dentists with signs of burnout classified as "Emotional Exhaustion" was higher: for women (64.4%) than men (56.7%) (p=0.005); for those working in a rural setting (70.1%) than for those working in an urban setting (59.9%) (p=0.009); for non-owners (65.6%) in comparison to owners (58.3%) (p =0.008); and for those who always or frequently work alone (63.7%), compared to dentists who never or rarely work alone (59.9%) (p=0.007). A high level of burnout was experienced by 9.8% of dentists.

In the population studied, environment, age and working hours per week have a significant impact upon EE, while ownership of the practice, years of experience, and working hours per week significantly affect DP. Working alone brings with it a high risk of suffering from a low sense of PA.

Burnout syndrome is more likely to affect young dentists who do not own a practice and work long hours each week.