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Determining Burnout Levels of Personnel Working in Nursing Homes

Article  in  Middle East Journal of Scientific Research · January 2015

DOI: 10.5829/idosi.mejsr.2015.23.07.9485

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Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research 23 (7): 1427-1435, 2015
ISSN 1990-9233
© IDOSI Publications, 2015
DOI: 10.5829/idosi.mejsr.2015.23.07.9485

Determining Burnout Levels of Personnel Working in Nursing Homes

1
Nur Feyzal Kesen, 1Serap Dasbas and 2Semra Saruc

Selcuk University, Faculty of Health Sciences Social Work Department, Campus, Konya/Turkey
1

2
Anadolu University, Faculty of Health Sciences Social Work Department, Campus, Eskisehir/Turkey

Abstract: The aim of the study is to determine the burnout levels of personnel working in the nursing homes.
This is a cross-sectional study. Maslach’s burnout inventory and personal information questionnaire prepared
by researchers are used to collect data. Data in our research are obtained from staffs (n=109) working in a
nursing home. Data are summarized by numbers and percentages and normality assumption is seen to hold.
Therefore, independent samples t-test and single-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) are applied. Results
of statistical analysis show that significant differences between burnout level and demographic properties
such as being satisfied with elderly’s attitude, desire to work in an another job, working period and
income status. In conclusions, findings in this study reveal that burnout levels of the personnel working in the
nursing home are high. Effective intervention about burnout should be done both individual and organisational
basis. The most important one is to develop a solution approach towards reasons by detecting the
factors caused burnout. It is very important to remove these problems in increasing the service quality provided
to the elder.

Key words: Nursing Home Burnout Elderly Nursing Home Personnel

INTRODUCTION “Maslach Burnout Inventory.” Today, the most accepted

definition of burnout dates back to Maslach. Maslach and
In Turkey, there are nursing homes and nursing and Jackson defined the burnout as “a syndrome with
rehabilitation centers for the elderly run by public, local emotional and mental dimensions that includes physical
governments, foundations, associations, universities and exhaustion, long-lasting fatigue, emotions of despair and
the private sector. These institutions provide residential hopelessness, negative sense of self, uselessness and
care services for dependent or independent elderly people negative attitudes towards others” [2]. Thus, burnout has
who are in need of protection. three dimensions of “emotional exhaustion,”
Care of the elderly is a demanding and laboring “depersonalization” and “reduced personal
process. Especially any personnel who are responsible for accomplishment.” These dimensions formed the basis of
the care of the elderly face significant distress. One of the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the most commonly used
most important problems that the personnel face is the quantitative tool on burnout. The dimensions of burnout
burnout syndrome. The risk of experiencing burnout is could be addressed as follows:
very high for nursing home personnels for they provide Emotional exhaustion is the beginning stage of
services to elderly and people in need of care. burnout where the individuals begins to get tired of his or
Initially Herbert Freudenberger defined the concept her occupation and could no longer find the emotional
of burnout in 1974 as “to become exhausted due to strength needed to fulfill the necessary tasks. Maslach
excessive demands on energy, power or resources” [1]. and Jackson [2] defined this phase as the overloading of
One of the researchers prominent with his work on the employee on the occupation and resulting feeling of
burnout, Maslach and Jackson made the definition of exhaustion. This stage reflects the personal stress
burnout [2], which is still used today and developed the dimension of burnout [3].

Corresponding Author: Nur Feyzal KESEN, Selcuk University, Faculty of Health Sciences Social Work Department,
Campus, Selcuklu, Konya, Turkey. Tel: +90 332 223 3533, Fax: +90 332 240 0056,

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The phase of depersonalization includes the home workers, the problems of the nursing home workers
negative attitudes towards the people receiving service and their views on the elderly were scrutinized and the
and unresponsiveness against the job. Maslach and study reported that a high percentage of nursing home
Jackson [2] defined this period where the employee workers experienced occupation-related problems. Those
demonstrates strict, cold and indifferent behavior lacking who stated that they experienced problems argued that
emotions. some of these problems were related to the characteristics
Reduced personal accomplishment phase is defined of the group they served. These characteristics were;
as a period when the employee has negative emotions communication problems with the elderly, elderly
about himself in his job, in other words, when the disobeying institutional rules and negative personality
employee feels himself inadequate and unsuccessful in traits of the elderly.
his occupation [2]. There are studies conducted with caretakers of the
The reasons for burnout could be divided into three elderly population or with individuals working with the
categories [4]: Occupational Traits: Employee-patient elderly especially in the international literature [13- 16].
relations, role conflict, role ambiguity and extreme role In a study of Payne [14] conducted with nursing
overload are considered within this category. home nurses, burnout was defined as high emotional
Organizational Traits: It entails the rewards and penalties exhaustion, high rates of depersonalization against
related to job performance. Personal Traits: It includes patients and reduction of personal accomplishment
various socio-demographical traits, self-efficacy and perception and it was stressed that burnout affected both
social support. physical and psychological health of the caregivers.
According to Khan, Yusoff and Khan [5] burnout is A study by Rodriguez and Small [15] demonstrated a
experienced by most of the workers in any sector but it is similar effect on all three dimensions of the burnout
indicated that workers in areas such as nursing, home care inventory on the burnout of nursing home employees.
and teaching are more prone to burnout. Also burnout is Burnout of nursing home workers in emotional exhaustion
mostly observed in professionals like medical doctors, sub-dimension was primarily affected by the workload
nurses, social workers and teachers, who work face to expectations, the resources of the institution and
face with people, require an extensive effort with stressing psychosocial factors. In the study, the workload
work conditions and insufficient payment [6]. In other expectations of the employees connoted “the average
words, it is observed in the service sectors. Thus, it is number of elderly assigned within a workday and number
known that health professionals are among the risk of high-maintenance elderly assigned” (for instance
groups for burn out. patients with dementia, always screaming, patients with
Studies conducted on occupational groups bedsores, patients whose resting positions should be
demonstrated that professionals like nurses, caregivers, changed frequently, etc.). Institutional resources
social workers and psychologists working in health and represented “the frequency of the communications of
social care sectors experienced more burnout and nursing home personnel with the team responsible with
reported more problems on their fields of study [7-11]. the care plan, the length of in-service training on working
“Health Workers Burnout Study in Turkey” conducted by with the elderly with physical impediments, the availability
Sa l k-Sen with 1060 healthcare workers in 2012 presented of required resources and the efficiency of the resources
significant findings on burnout of healthcare workers. available for the personnel” (for instance, dining room).
According to this study, it could be stated that healthcare A positive relationship was observed between the number
workers experienced medium level of burnout in emotional of elderly residents in a nursing home and the burnout
exhaustion and depersonalization sub-dimensions and level of the personnel. Hence, as the number of residents
high level of burnout in personal accomplishment sub- increased, the burnout level of the personnel increased as
dimension [12]. well. It was observed that the burnout level of the
Nursing homes are considered among healthcare and personnel who were unhappy with the availability and the
social service institutions. Thus, it could be stated that efficiency of the resources were quite high.
the risk of experiencing burnout for nursing home In a study where Duffy et al. [13] attempted to
personnel are quite high. Hence, in a study by determine the burnout level of the personnel providing
Mand rac o lu and Çam [11] conducted in one private care for patients with dementia, a relationship between the
and one public nursing homes in zmir with all nursing burnout level of the personnel and low self-efficacy.

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Thus, a significant negative correlation was found natural persons and minorities Turkey-wide. The findings
between self-efficacy and emotional exhaustion and of this study demonstrated that nurses, who were not
depersonalization sub-dimensions. In other words, satisfied with working at a nursing home and who thought
personnel with low self-efficacy experienced higher levels that occupation was not suitable for them, had higher
of burnout. emotional exhaustion and depersonalization scores. In
In their study on stress, social support and burnout addition, it was determined that the emotional exhaustion
among long-term care nurses, Woodhead et al. [16] found and depersonalization scores of nurses who experienced
that occupational stress was more related to burnout than problems with working with elderly individuals, in
personal stress among long-term care nurses. In addition, caregiving, communication and teamwork were higher.
it was found that occupational demands were related to Furthermore, it was determined that the burnout levels of
emotional exhaustion and depersonalization sub- nurses maintaining their occupation due to economical
dimensions. and social reasons were higher than the burnout levels of
There are studies in Turkey especially about the nurses who enjoyed their profession.
burnout levels of caregivers working in nursing homes Özçakar et al. [18] conducted a study with the staff of
and care centers with different occupational groups a public nursing home in zmir. The study investigated
[9, 11, 17, 18]. burnout and related factors in caregivers for the elderly.
Mand rac o lu and Çam [11] determined the problems The findings demonstrated a relationship between the
of nursing home workers and their views on the elderly in coping strategies of caregivers of elderly and self-
their study. It was observed in this study that female efficacies and their burnout levels.
workers complained more about serving the elderly. This study aimed to evaluate the burnout levels of
Nursing home workers expressed some of their negative the whole nursing home personnel working at a public
views on the elderly. It was also stated that the personnel nursing home in general and to determine whether the
working in institutions that provide long-term care burnout levels of the personnel differed based on the
services experienced problems and difficulties associated socio-demographical attributes or not.
with service to the elderly, institutional constraints and
insufficient staff. MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study by Bekta and lhan [17] was related to
the burnout levels of nurses working at nursing homes. The population of this study, designed in relational
This study was conducted with nurses employed in five screening model, consisted of the personnels of Dr. smail
public or private nursing homes in stanbul province. I k Nursing Home and Elderly Care and Rehabilitation
Findings of this study demonstrated that the burnout Center located in Konya province, Turkey. During the
levels of nurses who were not happy with the months of April-May 2013, when this study was
department they worked, worked for a less period of time conducted, 168 personnels were in the payroll of the
than others and worked for longer years in the nursing nursing home. A sample was not determined for the
home were higher than others. study, all personnels were approached for participation,
The study by Çimen et al. [9] was conducted with however only 109 responded the questionnaires. 30
the employees of a public special-care center in stanbul. respondents were female and 79 were male. The age range
This study did not find the burnout and job satisfaction of the respondents was 23-58 and their average age was
levels of the employees to be very high. Although the 36.31.
burnout levels of female workers were found to be higher
than that of males, males demonstrated better levels in job Data Collection Tools: The data were collected with the
satisfaction. In burnout sub-dimensions, only emotional personal information questionnaire designed by the
exhaustion was found to predict job satisfaction authors and the Maslach Burnout Inventory developed
effectively. by Maslach and Jackson [2] and adapted to Turkish by
Another study by Akdemir et al. [7] was also related Ergin [19] in the study. Maslach Burnout Inventory
to the caregiving problems and burnout levels of nurses includes 22 items and 3 sub-dimensions of emotional
who work at nursing homes and elderly care centers. This exhaustion (9 items), depersonalization (5 items) and
study was conducted with nurses who work in nursing personal accomplishment (8 items). Scores were calculated
homes and elderly care and rehabilitation centers that separately for each sub-dimension. Personal
belong to public sector, organizations and foundations, accomplishment expressions in the survey form were

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positive expressions contrary to other expressions and nursing home personnel will be presented and then the
higher scores obtained from these expressions reflected differentiation of the personnel’s burnout levels based on
high personal accomplishment and reflected low burnout these characteristics will be discussed.
levels at the same time. Thus, high scores obtained in
sub-scales of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization Socio-Demographic Traits of the Nursing Home
and low score obtained in personal accomplishment sub- Personnel: Average age of the respondents is 36.3. 27.5%
scale reflected high level of burnout. of the personnels are female, 72.5% are male. 48.6% have
The inability of the burnout inventory to provide a primary school degree, 24.8% have high school degree,
total score and the display of the relation of the scores for 26.6% are college graduates and 82.6% are married.
each three sub-dimensions with separate variables, were Average working period in the institution is 8 years and
conditions proposed by the developers of the scale and the shortest working period is 1 year and the longest is 30
its Turkish adapters. Ergin [19] stated that Maslach years. Average salary is TRY 1,383, the minimum salary is
Burnout Inventory was not a diagnostic tool and it would TRY 900 and the maximum salary is TRY 3,000.
be more appropriate to make comparisons to observe the 10.1% of the respondents are administrative
relationships between the scores obtained in sub- personnel, 14.7% are healthcare workers, 17.4% are
dimensions (EE, D, PA) of the burnout inventory and cafeteria staff, 45% are caregivers (that caters the physical
socio-demographic variables. In the reliability analysis needs of the elderly) and 12.8% are others (tailor, coiffeur
conducted during the Maslach Burnout Inventory and security personnel). Finally, 56.9% of the personnel
adaptation study, the Cronbach Alpha coefficients were are satisfied with the attitudes of the elderly in return for
calculated for emotional exhaustion, depersonalization the services they provided, while 43.1% are not.
and personal accomplishment sub-dimensions as 0.82,
0.78 and 0.71, respectively. Chi-square degree of freedom Burnout Findings about Nursing Home Personnels:
of the inventory, 1.78 displayed perfect rapport while This section contains analysis on whether the burnout
AGFI value was found as 0.85, GFI value was found as levels differs based on the gender, age, elderly attitude,
0.85, CFI value was found as 0.95 [19]. desire to work at a different occupation, working period
Personal information questionnaire included and income status variables of the nursing home workers.
questions to determine personal traits and burnout levels In the study, no significant difference was found on
of the participants. the t-test statistical analysis between the “emotional
exhaustion,” “depersonalization,” and “reduced personal
The Process: The inventory and personal information accomplishment” sub-dimension scores in Burnout
survey were applied to the personnels of all ranks working Inventory applied to the nursing home workers according
in the nursing home in 2013. The participation of the to gender (p>0.05).
subjects was on voluntary basis. They were informed When the variance analysis results were examined, a
about the aim of the study and guidelines of the significant difference was observed in the “personal
inventory. Data were collected during a period of 2-3 accomplishment” (F=5.07, p<.05) sub-dimension between
weeks. the score averages for the sub-dimensions of Burnout
The analysis of the data was conducted using the Inventory according to age variable of nursing home
SPSS. Data were observed to hold normality assumptions, personnel (Table 1). In other words, the burnout levels of
thus descriptive statistics analysis was carried out using nursing home personnels differed significantly in
t-test and one-way ANOVA for independent groups. “personal accomplishment” sub-dimension according to
Tukey-test was used to determine the source of the age. However, no significant difference was found in
differentiation following ANOVA results. “emotional exhaustion” and “depersonalization” dub-
dimensions.
RESULTS Results of the Tukey-test conducted to determine the
source of the differentiation (Table 2), demonstrated that
The findings of this study, conducted to determine in reduced personal accomplishment sub-dimension
the burnout levels of the personnel (administrator, health nursing home personnels between the ages of 31 and 40
care workers, cafeteria staff, caregiver, etc.) working at Dr. experienced significantly more burnout when compared to
smail I k Nursing Home and Elderly Care and personnels that were 41 years old or older (p<0.05). In
Rehabilitation Center in Konya, will be presented in two other words, older nursing home workers had lower
sections. Initially, informative characteristics of the burnout levels than younger workers.

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Table 1: Burnout subscale scores according to age

Dependent Variable Age N Ss F
Emotional Exhaustion <30 26 20.07 7.59 .334
31-40 54 19.75 7.47
>41 29 21.24 9.07
Total 109 20.22 7.90
Depersonalization <30 26 10.57 4.26 .128
31-40 54 11.01 4.44
>41 29 10.58 4.85
Total 109 10.79 4.47
Personal Accomplisment <30 26 34.38 3.95 5.079*
31-40 54 31.72 5.90
>41 29 35.03 3.71
Total 109 33.23 5.16
*p<0.05

Table 2: Tukey-test results according to age

Age (I) Age (II) Mean Difference Std. Error P
31-40 <30 -2.66 1.18 .069
>41 -3.31* 1.14 .013*
*p<0.05

Table 3: t-Test results according to being satisfied with the elderly’s attitude
Independent Variable Attitude of the Elderly N Ss T P
Emotional Exhaustion Satisfied 62 18.69 7.30 -2.37 .019*
Not Satisfied 47 22.25 8.28
Depersonalization Satisfied 62 9.33 3.54 -4.19 .000*
Not Satisfied 47 12.72 4.87
Personal Accomplisment Satisfied 62 34.46 4.92 2.95 .004*
Not Satisfied 47 31.61 5.07
*p<0.05

Table 4: t-Test results according to desire to work at a different occupation

Independent Variable Desire to work at a different occupation N Ss T P
Emotional Exhaustion Yes 40 25.27 8.58 5.78 .000*
No 69 17.30 5.77
Depersonalization Yes 40 12.85 4.64 3.87 .000*
No 69 9.60 3.94
Personal Accomplisment Yes 40 33.07 4.22 -.25 .803
No 69 33.33 5.66
*p<0.05

According to the t-test conducted as a part of the personnel that were satisfied ( =18.69/ =9.33). In
statistical analysis, the variable of being satisfied with “personal accomplishment” sub-dimension, the personal
the elderly’s attitudes demonstrated a significant accomplishment score of those that were satisfied
difference in “emotional exhaustion”(t=-2.37, p<0.05), ( =34.46) with the elderly’s attitudes were higher than the
“depersonalization”(t= -4.19, p<0.05) and “personal personnels who were not satisfied ( =31.61). In other
accomplishment”(t=2.95, p<0.05) sub-dimensions of the words, participants who were satisfied with the attitudes
Burnout Inventory (Table 3). Thus, in “emotional of the elderly experienced less burnout.
exhaustion” and “depersonalization” sub-dimensions, the In Table 4 t-test statistical analysis showed that the
burnout levels of the nursing home personnel, who are variable of the desire to work at a different occupation
not satisfied with the attitudes of the elderly in response with similar financial benefits demonstrated a significant
to the service they provided ( =22.25/ =12.72 difference in “emotional exhaustion” (t=5.78, p<0.05) and
respectively) were higher than the nursing home “depersonalization” (t=3.87, p<0.05) sub-dimensions of

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Table 5: Burnout subscale scores according to working period

Dependent Variable Working Period N Ss F
Emotional Exhaustion < 5 year 37 19.37 7.69 4.268*
6-15 year 60 19.53 7.40
> 16 year 12 26.33 8.92
Total 109 20.22 7.90
Depersonalization < 5 year 37 10.83 4.59 .282
6-15 year 60 10.60 4.14
> 16 year 12 11.66 5.88
Total 109 10.79 4.47
Personal Accomplisment < 5 year 37 33.16 4.59 .007
6-15 year 60 33.26 5.71
> 16 year 12 33.33 4.20
Total 109 33.23 5.16
*p<0.05

Table 6: Tukey-test results according to working period

Working Period (I) Working Period (II) Mean Difference Std. Error P
> 16 year < 5 year 6.95* 2.55 .020*
6-15 year 6.80* 2.42 .017*
*p<0.05

the Burnout Inventory. Thus, in “emotional exhaustion” differed significantly based on their working period in
and “depersonalization” sub-dimensions, emotional “emotional exhaustion” sub-dimension. However, there
exhaustion and depersonalization average scores was no significant difference observed in
( =25.27/ =12.85, respectively) of nursing home “depersonalization” and “personal accomplishment” sub-
personnel, who wanted to work at a different occupation dimensions.
with the same financial benefits, were higher than the Results of Tukey-test conducted to determine the
nursing home personnel who did not want to work at a source of the differentiation (Table 6) determined that in
different occupation ( =17.3 =9.60). emotional exhaustion sub-dimension, personnel who
When the participants were asked if they were happy worked at the nursing home for 16 years or longer
with their jobs, 90% responded positively. When they experienced significantly higher levels of burnout
were asked why they were happy with their jobs even than personnel who worked for 5 years and less and
though they have stated that they had experienced personnel who worked between 6 and 15 years at the
problems, they said, “They would be feared if the nursing home.
administrators heard about their responses.” Certain ANOVA results demonstrated a significant difference
participants stated that being unhappy with their between the average scores of nursing home personnels
occupations would be a great ingratitude. They said that in Burnout Inventory sub-dimensions in “emotional
it would be a betrayal of the money/salary they were paid. exhaustion” (F=5.13, p<.05) sub-dimension based on the
Due to the perceptions they named as ingratitude and fear income status of nursing home personnel (Table 7).
of dismissal, the information aimed by this question was In other words, nursing home personnel’s levels of
not obtained. Instead the condition of being satisfied with burnout differed significantly based on their income
the occupation was directed in another question, “Would status in “emotional exhaustion” sub-dimension.
you like to work in a different occupation with the same However, no significant difference was observed in
conditions?” Personnel who are satisfied with their “depersonalization” and “personal accomplishment”
occupations, hence desiring to continue to work at their sub-dimensions.
occupations, experienced less burnout. Results of Tukey-test conducted to determine the
In Table 5 ANOVA results demonstrated a significant source of the differentiation (Table 8) indicated that in
difference between the average scores of nursing home emotional exhaustion sub-dimension, personnel who
personnels in Burnout Inventory sub-dimensions in earned better experienced significantly higher levels of
“emotional exhaustion”(F=4.26, p<.05) sub-dimension burnout than personnel who earned less. It could be
based on working period in the nursing home. In other stated that working at the nursing home affected those
words, nursing home personnels’ levels of burnout with better income more adversely.

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Table 7: Burnout subscale scores according to income status

Dependent Variable Income Status N Ss F
Emotional Exhaustion Good 15 25.20 9.42 5.13*
Moderate 75 20.10 7.95
Bad 19 16.78 3.58
Total 109 20.22 7.90
Depersonalization Good 15 11.86 4.35 .96
Moderate 75 10.85 4.78
Bad 19 9.73 3.03
Total 109 10.79 4.47
Personal Accomplisment Good 15 35.20 3.72 1.53
Moderate 75 33.12 5.19
Bad 19 32.15 5.80
Total 109 33.23 5.16
*p<0.05

Table 8: Tukey-test results according to income status

Income Status (I) Income Status (II) Mean Difference Std. Error P
Good Moderate 5.09 2.15 .052*
Bad 8.41* 2.63 .005*
*p<0.05

DISCUSSION between the ages of 31 and 40 experienced significantly

more burnout than the employees who were 41 or older.
In the study, no significant difference was found Rai’s [20] study found significant negative relationships
between the “emotional exhaustion,” “depersonalization,” between the age of the respondents and emotional
and “low personal achievements” sub-dimension exhaustion and depersonalization sub-dimensions. Thus,
according to gender in the Burnout Scale applied to elder care personnel experience emotional exhaustion and
nursing home personnel. In similar burnout studies, depersonalization sub-dimensions of burnout less than
though, a statistically significant difference was found others. In that respect, it could be stressed that the
between the gender of the employees and their burnout emotional flexibility feelings of older health care personnel
levels. In a study conducted by Çimen et al. [9] with the were more developed.
personnel working at a special care center on burnout and Another variable examined in the study was if the
job satisfaction levels, it was found that the burnout burnout sub-dimensions of nursing home personnel
levels and the levels of experience of the lack of personal differentiated based on the attitudes of the elderly.
achievement were higher in females than males. Thus, t-test results demonstrated that nursing home
Furthermore, in similar studies it was demonstrated that personnel that are not happy with the attitudes of the
female employees experienced emotional burnout more elderly about the service they provide experienced higher
than males and the personal achievement levels of female emotion of burnout in emotional exhaustion and
employees were significantly lower than male employees depersonalization sub-dimensions. Those who were
[12, 18]. However, a study by Rai [20] argued that male satisfied with the attitudes of the elderly had higher
employees experienced burnout more than females. “personal achievement” burnout sub-dimension points.
Age is a significant factor in burnout. Especially in In other words, nursing home personnel who were happy
important studies conducted with nursing home with the behavior of the elderly experienced less burnout.
personnel and healthcare personnel, it was observed that Similarly, burnout levels of personnel who had problems
age is related to all three sub-dimensions of burnout level with the elderly while servicing them were found to be
[9, 13, 17, 18, 20]. In other words, older or elderly high in other studies. In a study with nurses working at
personnel had lower burnout levels than young nursing homes and elderly care and rehabilitation centers
personnel. The findings of this study that older personnel on burnout by Akdemir et al. [7], it was determined that
experienced less burnout then younger personnel in nurses who had problems in working with elderly
personal achievements sub-dimension of the Burnout individuals, care, communications and team work had high
Scale are similar to the other findings in the literature. emotional burnout and depersonalization points.
Thus, it was determined that nursing home employees Therefore, to increase the personnel’s awareness of the

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negativity in the workplace, training the employees and points averages of nurses who worked in the nursing
providing opportunities about existing resources where home for 6-10 years were significantly higher than nurses
they can get help when needed is crucial [5]. with less than a year in service. In other words, burnout
Another variable considered in the study was levels of nurses who were in the initial years of the service
whether the respondents preferred to work in another and those with high tenure were found to be higher. Some
occupation with the same financial benefits. Statistical studies on the other hand, did not find any significant
analysis demonstrated that the variable of the desire to difference between the term of office and the levels of
work at another occupation with the same financial burnout [7, 9].
benefits displayed a significant difference for the Income status of nursing home personnel and levels
“emotional exhaustion” and “depersonalization” sub- of burnout were compared in this study and a significant
dimensions of the burnout scale. Thus, in “emotional difference was found in “emotional burnout” sub-
exhaustion” and “depersonalization” sub-dimensions, the dimension based on nursing home employees’ income
burnout levels of the nursing home personnel who would status variable. Thus, nursing home personnel with better
desire to work in a different occupation with the same income experience more emotional exhaustion than those
financial conditions were higher than the personnel who with lower income. However, there was no significant
do not want to work at another occupation. This case is difference observed in “depersonalization” and “low
significant in the preference of personnel to prefer another personal achievement” sub-dimensions. It could be stated
occupation with the same financial benefits. Similarly, that employees with higher income were affected in a
Akdemir et al. [7] found that there was a significant negative way from working in a nursing home. Certain
difference between the satisfaction of the nurses with other studies did not find a statistically significant
their work at the institution and their “emotional difference between the level of income and burnout [7].
exhaustion” and “depersonalization” sub-dimension Studies with employees in general and specifically
points. Thus, it was determined that the burnout levels of the studies conducted with those who provide services to
the nurses who stay in their occupations for economic or the elderly demonstrated that the most significant reasons
social reasons were higher than those who enjoy their for the burnout among employees were working
occupation. Likewise, in a study by Bekta and lhan [17] conditions, workload, role conflict and stress [3, 8, 10, 13,
on the burnout levels of nurses working in nursing 20]. Rai’s [20] study stressed that workload was a
homes, it was found that the burnout levels of nurses, powerful determinant for emotional exhaustion and
who were not satisfied with the section they worked at, depersonalization, while the study by Green [10] stated
were higher. that working conditions was a powerful determinant of
Another significant variable related to burnout is the burnout when working with elderly and their families.
working period. Studies show that as working period gets Findings of the study demonstrated that those with
longer, desensitization and stress is experienced less [20]. low income, those who are not happy with the attitudes of
Results of the ANOVA conducted in this study the elderly towards them and those with a 16 years or
demonstrated that there was a significant difference longer working period had high levels of burnout. In
between the points average of sub-dimensions of the parallel with the findings of this study, the following
Burnout Scale in “emotional exhaustion” sub-dimension institutional measures were proposed to prevent the
according to working period in the nursing home of the burnout of the personnel working in nursing homes:
nursing home personnel. In other words, the burnout
levels of the nursing home personnel significantly change In order to improve and develop the attitudes of the
in “emotional exhaustion” sub-dimension according to elderly towards the nursing home personnel
their working period. Thus, nursing home personnel with professional practices could be done. These practices
a working period of 16 years and more experience could be designed to band nursing home personnel
significantly more burnout than personnel with 5 years and the elderly together. For instance, the awareness
and less and between 6 to 15 years in the nursing home. of the elderly on the positive effects of the job
Similarly, in a study by Bekta and lhan [17] on burnout, satisfaction on the personnel could be heightened by
conducted with nurses, showed that Burnout Scale total organizing individual and group work.
points average for respondents with 1-5 years and 6-10 The burnout levels of employees with 16 years or
years in the office were significantly higher than over working period are higher. This fact
employees who were 11-15 years in service. Burnout scale demonstrates that personnel who have worked in

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nursing homes for many years are under the risk of 10. Green, R.R., 2008. Social Work with the Aged and
experiencing burnout. Preventive psychological Their Families. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
efforts are required for the personnel who worked in 11. Mand rac o lu, A. and O. Çam, 2004. Huzurevi
nursing homes for many years. Arrangements such çal anlar n n sorunlar . Turkish Journal of Geriatrics,
as improving and positive readjustment of working 7: 29-32.
conditions in nursing homes and limiting the time 12. Sa l k ve Sosyal Hizmet Çal anlar Sendikas ,
that the personnel with longer tenure spend with the 2012. Türkiye’de Sa l k Çal anlar ve Tükenmi lik
elderly could be beneficial. Ara t rmas Sonuçlar .
13. Duffy, B., J.R. Oyebode and J. Allen, 2009. Burnout
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