Association between the dimensions of burnout syndrome and patient advocacy

Abstract

Introduction: Nursing professionals deal with stressful situations and high workloads every day, which can lead to illness among these professionals. Symptoms such as emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low professional achievement characterize Burnout Syndrome. Professionals need to guarantee the rights of their patients, offering ethical assistance, respecting beliefs and ethnicities, ensuring confidentiality and, above all, their legal rights.  Objective: To evaluate the association between the dimensions of Burnout Syndrome and Patient Advocacy in nursing professionals. Methods: It consists of a cross-sectional study that was carried out in Primary Health Care in a municipality in the interior of Goiás, Brazil. The sociodemographic and labor questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory instrument and the Protective Nursing Advocacy Scale instrument were used with active nurses and nursing technicians. Descriptive analysis and multiple linear regression, where the variables showed an association between them at p<0.05. Results: 112 health professionals participated. There was a significant association between the dimensions of Burnout Syndrome and patient advocacy, where emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and professional achievement were associated with item 17 “Vulnerable patients need my protection in harmful situations”, however, only emotional exhaustion was associated with item 9 “I am acting as a patient representative when I act as their advocate” with Emotional Exhaustion”. Conclusion: There was a significant association between the dimensions of Burnout Syndrome and patient advocacy.

Keywords: Psychological Exhaustion; Nursing Professionals; Patient Advocacy.