Journal
MIDWIFERY
Volume 29, Issue 8, Pages 921-926Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.midw.2012.11.002
Keywords
Burnout; Midwives; Survey; Community and Hospital
Categories
Funding
- NHS Hospital Trust
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Background: community-based midwifery practice has been promoted in the UK maternity policy over the last decade as a means of increasing continuity of care. However, there have been growing concerns to suggest that the community-based continuity model may not be sustainable due to the high levels of occupational burnout in midwives resulted by increased on-call work. Aims: this paper attempted to identify work factors associated with the levels of burnout in community midwives as compared to hospital midwives, aiming at contributing to the debate of organising sustainable midwifery care. Methods: a statistical analysis was conducted drawing on data from a survey of all midwives working at one Hospital Trust in England (n=238). Occupational burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Results: the sample midwives (n=128, 54%) had significantly higher levels of burnout compared to the reference groups. Multiple regression analysis identified as follows: (1) high levels of occupational autonomy were a key protective factor of burnout, and more prevalent in the community, (2) working hours were positively associated with burnout, and community midwives were more likely to have higher levels of stress recognition, and (3) support for work-life-balance from the Trust had a significant protective effect on the levels of burnout. Conclusion: the results should be taken into account in the maternity policy in order to incorporate continuity of care and sustainable organisation of midwifery care. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available