Psychological Resilience and Burnout Levels in Occupational Therapists in Greece. An Epidemiological Nationwide Research

Background: Occupational therapists (OT) practitioners are at risk of burnout given the complexity of the practice environment and the demands of the workload. Studies suggest that recognizing the symptoms of burnout and developing personal resilience as a preventive mechanism can help reduce the impact of or even prevent burnout. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate psychological resilience and burnout in OTs and determine if psychological resilience can affect occupational burnout levels. Methods: 345 Occupational therapists (practitioners) from all over Greece (and Cyprus) participated in this study, and the tools used were the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) for the measurement of psychological resilience and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) for the levels of Occupational Burnout. This survey was conducted in relation to specific demographic characteristics such as age, gender and years, location, work contexts, etc. Results: The results showed that 50% of the participants had no psychological resilience while 50% showed moderately high and high levels of burnout, and also showed that regardless of demographics, psychological resilience is not a statistically significant factor in dealing with Occupational Burnout. Conclusions: About one in two Occupational therapists (OTs), regardless of age, gender or professional experience, shows burnout, and measures need to be taken by the relevant health structures to prevent and treat the phenomenon before it leads to serious consequences. The study shows the multifactorial and complex nature of burnout and psychological resilience. More multidimensional approaches are needed so as to suggest the corresponding effective interventions. It is suggested that recognition of burnout symptoms and coping strategies be included in the core curriculum along with strategies for strengthening psychological resilience, although it does not seem to be statistically significant to burnout, as it constitutes a psychoprophylactic factor for overall mental health and a great percentage of OTs does not have it.