Prevalence of burnout and associated factors among nurses working in public hospitals, southern Ethiopia: a multi-center embedded mixed study

Burnout is a global concern because of its potential to affect the health of nurses and the quality of service provided. However, less consideration has been given to research in the study setting. Therefore, the study aimed to assess the prevalence of burnout and associated factors among nurses working in public hospitals of Wolaita zone, Southern Ethiopia. Institution based embedded mixed method was employed on 374 nurses working in public hospitals of Wolaita zone from July to August, 2022. A systematic and criterion purposive sampling was employed. Burnout was assessed by the Maslach Burnout Inventory- Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS). Quantitative data were entered into Epi data version 4.6.2 and then exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. Qualitative data was analyzed by open code version 4.3. Binary logistic regression followed by multivariable logistic regression was used and P-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant with confidence level of 95%. Thematic analysis was used for qualitative data. A total 360 nurses participated in this study with a response of 96.2%. The prevalence of burnout among nurses was 49.2% (95% CI: 43.9, 54.5). Nurses working in primary hospitals (AOR = 2.56, 95%CI:1.38,4.77), night shifts (AOR = 2.84, 95% CI:1.31, 6.16), poor work satisfaction (AOR = 2.54, 95% CI: 1.36,4.71), alcohol drinking (AOR = 3.81, 95% CI:1.19,12.16), poor social support (AOR = 1.79,95%CI:1.01,3.20), anxiety (AOR = 2.62,95%CI:1.37,5.00) and depression (AOR = 3.02, 95%CI:1.58,5.77) were significantly associated with burnout. Resource- reward disparities, poor social support and suboptimal work environments are the qualitative study findings which supplement the quantitative data. In this study about half of the nurses working in public hospitals of Wolaita zone had burnout. It is recommended to have a holistic approach towards nurses' mental and physical wellbeing.