The Prevalence of Burnout in Occupational Therapists

Burnout is a stress which may affect an health all health professionals. In this paper its process, causes and characteristics in various health professions are outlined. A survey of burnout in Australian occupational therapists was conducted. The results show that occupational therapists working in the psychosocial area have significantly more burnout on the measure of frequency of feelings of personal accomplishment than do those working in paediatric or physical rehabilitation areas. These feelings are related to specific differences in job characteristics. Implications for prevention of burnout are discussed.