Relationships among burnout, coping style and personality: Study of Japanese professional caregivers for elderly

AIM: To investigate relationships among burnout, coping style and personality. METHODS: Seventy-two professional caregivers working at nursing homes in Japan were assessed using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situation (CISS). RESULTS: GHQ (beta = 0.34, P < 0.01) and emotion-oriented coping (CISS-E; beta = 0.31, P < 0.05) were the predictors of emotional exhaustion (MBI-EE), and neuroticism (NEO-N; beta = 0.45, P < 0.001) and age (beta = -0.23, P < 0.05) were the predictors of depersonalization (MBI-DP). Structural equation modeling showed that NEO-N affected the burnout scores through CISS-E, and that age and GHQ affected the burnout scores independently. CONCLUSION: Personality affects burnout through coping style in professional caregivers.