Burnout syndrome and psychological workplace violence among Peruvian physicians: a cross-sectional study

Physicians face increased emotional weariness as a result of the inherent stress and responsibility of their roles. In addition, they are vulnerable to abuse, coercion, and aggressiveness in their workplace settings. The link between burnout syndrome and psychological workplace violence (WPV) is complex and must be viewed as bidirectional. We assessed the association between the levels of burnout and psychological WPV among their colleagues among Peruvian physicians.

We performed a cross-sectional study that surveyed licensed Peruvian physicians actively practicing clinical medicine from April to December 2023. A non-probability convenience sampling via hospital interviews and diffusion through online platforms was carried out. The SPV-Health scale, validated for the Peruvian context, assessed psychological violence, while the MBI-HSS evaluated burnout dimensions. Descriptive statistics and Poisson regression models, adjusting for covariates, were employed for analysis.

We included 384 medical doctors; most participants worked in urban areas, with nearly half being specialists or subspecialists, predominantly in medicine services. Physicians experiencing burnout were 4.04 times more likely to encounter psychological violence compared to those without burnout (95% CI: 2.45-6.57), even after adjusting for age, sex, medical positions and years of medical practice (PR: 3.93; 95% CI: 2.35-6.57). Among the risk factors for psychological violence, being a resident practitioner was the only significant one (PR: 1.79; 95% CI: 1.18-2.73).

Our study underscores a significant association between Burnout Syndrome among Peruvian doctors and their experience of psychological WPV from colleagues. Tailored interventions addressing these challenges are imperative, with organizational strategies offering potential while interventions for WPV require further investigation.