ПРОФЕСІЙНЕ ВИГОРАННЯ ФІЗИЧНИХ ТЕРАПЕВТІВ В УКРАЇНІ: ПІЛОТНЕ ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ

Healthcare professionals, especially in the context of military conflict, are exposed to significant stressful factors of professional burnout. Rehabilitation specialists have one of the highest risks of developing professional burnout. Assessing the professional burnout of Ukrainian physical therapists (PTs) in the circumstances of war is necessary for the further development of strategies to prevent professional burnout and maintain their health. The aim of the research is to find out the level of professional burnout among physical therapists and to investigate the relationship between professional burnout and such unmodified factors as gender, work experience, type and region of the health care facility. The survey was conducted on a voluntary basis, employing the Google form of the Maslach Professional Burnout Questionnaire, which contains three scales: emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalisation (DP), and professional achievement (PA). The study involved 67 physical therapists, including 31 men and 36 women. Statistical analysis was conducted using STATISTICA 6.0 software. The analysis of the average values of the questionnaire scales shows that their values correspond to a moderate level of burnout. However, 53.73% of the study participants have a high level of EE, 19.40% have a moderate level, and 26.87% have a low level. A high level of depersonalisation is typical for 52.24%, moderate – for 26.87% and low – for 20.90% of physical therapists. According to the PА scale – 20.90%, 28.36% and 50.75%, respectively. Thus, the majority of the subjects (52-54%) have high values of professional burnout according to the EE and DP scales, and only one fifth of the total number of subjects – according to the PА scale. According to the results of the cluster analysis, which enabled the evaluation of individual profiles of professional burnout, all the subjects were grouped into three groups: with high (16.42%), moderate (31.34%) and low (52.24%) levels of professional burnout. No significant correlations were found with any of the factors studied. However, we can talk about the identified trends. Among physical therapists working in public institutions, there is the highest number of people with a high level of burnout according to all three scales of the questionnaire. The largest proportion of physical therapists with high levels of burnout on the EE and DP scales was found among those with 2 to 5 years of experience (59.09%), and professional achievement – among physical therapists with more than 15 years of experience (45.05%). In the frontline regions, physical therapists have a higher number of people with a high level of burnout according to the EE scale. Also, among male physical therapists, there is a higher level of burnout according to the EE and DP scales compared to women. Our average data show that during military operations, physical therapists have a moderate level of burnout according to all three scales. Such unmodified factors as gender, work experience, type and region of the health care facility do not significantly affect the indicators of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and professional achievement. The analysis of individual characteristics of professional burnout enabled the identification of groups with high and moderate values. It is revealed that almost 50% of Ukrainian PTs in the conditions of military conflict have a high risk of professional burnout according to their individual profile, which requires the development of strategies for the prevention of professional burnout.