Abstract Burnout, defined with its most agreed upon definition, given in 1982 by Christina Maslach (Maslach Burnout Inventory), is a prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors on the job. Individuals suffering from burnout experience emotional exhaustion, depersonalization of clients, and reduced feelings of personal accomplishment. The well-documented day-to-day and long-term experiences of job stress and burnout among social services institutions increasingly raise concerns among leaders, policy makers and scholars. In this senses, previous research conducted internationally has shown a high prevalence of burnout among Social Workers collective. The burnout in Social Work is related to three types of factors: individual (seniority, gender, training and qualification, personality attributes, etc.), organizational (role stress, uncertainty, work overload, lack of human resources, etc.), and contextual. However, it is not frequent to find studies that analyze this occupational health problem in Spain. Current research explores the prevalence of burnout (using the Maslach Burnout Inventory) and associated risk factors like the demographic, occupational, perceived social support (Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire), anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) and job satisfaction levels (Overall Job Satisfaction) among social workers in Spain. Higher perceived social support decreases; higher anxiety is linked to higher burnout, and higher job satisfaction is linked to lower burnout incidence. Participants: the study’s sample was composed of a total of 252 subjects, of which 88.5 % (n = 223) were women, and 11.5 % (n = 29) were men, all social workers from the Professional Associations of Social Work of Seville and Murcia, with an average age of 40.7 years. The information was collected online via the Google Questionnaire application at the end of 2017. The questionnaire was divided into four different blocks: demographic (including age, sex, marital status and number of children) and labor (seniority, employment sector and employment context ) variables; perceived social support (Duke-UNC functional social support questionnaire); Generalized Anxiety disorder scale (GAD 7); Overall Job Satisfaction questionnaire; and burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory), whose 22 questions measure emotional exhaustion, low depersonalization and personal fulfillment. Based on the prevalence of burnout, 46.8 % (n = 118) showed high emotional exhaustion, 56.7 % (n = 143) high depersonalization and 62.3 % (n = 157) low personal achievement. Likewise, after logistic regression analysis, it is observed how certain variables are statistically significantly associated with the different dimensions of burnout, specifically, emotional exhaustion was associated with older age (OR = 1.028; p = .038), work seniority (OR = 1.032; p = .038) and job satisfaction (OR = .978; p = .009). High depersonalization was positively associated with working in social services (OR = 1.726; p = .018), perceived social support (OR = .969; p = .026) and anxiety (OR = 1.213; p = .037). Finally, low personal achievement was statistically associated with perceived social support (OR = .969; p = .026) and anxiety (OR = 1.213; p = .037). Current results could be effective when carrying out prevention strategies aimed at reducing the problem of burnout among Social Work professionals in Spain. The socio-economic and political context of Spain characterized by austerity in recent years has negatively affected the public sector and social services through restrictions on access to rights, precarious working conditions for social workers, reduction of templates and work teams, elimination of public services and benefits, progressive privatization and reduction of budgets for social policies, increasing the workload of social workers in Spain. Current results show the degree of dissatisfaction among social workers in Spain, calling on other researchers to analyze the protective factors that can cushion the appearance and negative effects of burnout.
Resumen La presente investigación analiza la prevalencia de burnout y los factores de riesgo asociados a nivel demográfico, laboral, apoyo social percibido, ansiedad y satisfacción laboral en el colectivo de trabajadores/as sociales en España. Se partió de la hipótesis que suponía que un mayor apoyo social percibido disminuye el burnout; que una mayor ansiedad estaría vinculada a aumentar su presencia; y que una mayor satisfacción laboral estaría vinculada a una menor incidencia de burnout. La muestra de estudio estuvo compuesta por un total de 252 trabajadores/as sociales, de los que el 88.5 % (n = 223) eran mujeres, y el 11.5 % (n = 29) eran hombres, de los Colegios Profesionales de Trabajo Social de Sevilla y Murcia. Se recogió información sobre variables demográficas, laborales, apoyo social percibido (mediante el Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire), síntomas de ansiedad (Generalized Anxiety Disorder), satisfacción laboral (Overall Job Satisfaction) y burnout.Maslach Burnout Inventory). La investigación demostró que, en función de la prevalencia de burnout, un 46.8 % (n = 118) mostraba un alto cansancio emocional; un 56.7 % (n = 143), una elevada despersonalización; y un 62.3 % (n = 157), baja realización personal. Determinadas variables se asocian, de manera estadísticamente significativa, a las diferentes dimensiones de burnout, específicamente: mayor edad, antigüedad laboral, ansiedad, menor apoyo social percibido y satisfacción laboral. Los presentes resultados ponen de manifiesto el grado de insatisfacción entre los trabajadores/as sociales de España, lo cual hace un llamamiento a otros investigadores/as a analizar los factores de protección que pueden amortiguar la aparición y los efectos negativos del burnout, y a llevar a cabo estrategias de prevención destinadas a reducir esta problemática global.
