Burnout and its relationship with personality factors in oncology nurses.

PURPOSE: To assess burnout levels in oncology nurses, to evaluate at what stage of burnout suffering they are and to analyze the relationship between burnout with personality factors.

METHOD: A quantitative, observational, cross-sectional multicenter study was done. Oncology nurses (n = 101) from the Andalusian Health Service (Andalusia, Spain) were included. The main variables were personality factors, assessed with the NEO-FFI questionnaire, anxiety and depression, assessed with the Educational-Clinical Questionnaire: Anxiety and Depression, and burnout, evaluated with the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Student t-statistic was used for hypothesis contrasts and Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to establish the association between personality factors and burnout.

RESULTS: According to the burnout phases model, 29.6% of the sample is in the most severe phases. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization are positively correlated with neuroticism and negatively correlated with agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion and openness. Personal accomplishment has a negative correlation with neuroticism and negative correlations with agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion and openness. Finally, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization have a positive correlation with anxiety and depression, while personal accomplishment has a negative correlation with anxiety and depression.

CONCLUSIONS: A significant number of oncology nurses are in the most severe stages of burnout suffering. Personality factors have a key role in burnout development. The importance of personality factors in burnout development should be taken into account.