Job Burnout and Occupational Stressors among Chinese Healthcare Professionals at County-Level Health Alliances

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to examine the degrees of job burnout and occupational stressors and their associations among healthcare professionals from county-level health alliances in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in county-level health alliances in Qinghai Province, China, in November 2018. The Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey and the 38-item Chinese version of the "Scale for occupational stressors on clinicians" were used. Medical staff in four health alliances from two counties were invited to complete the questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 1052 (age: 34.06 ± 9.22 years, 79.1% females) healthcare professionals were included, 68.2% (95% CI: 65.2-71.0%) of the participants had job burnout symptoms. Occupational stressors had positive associations with moderate (OR = 1.06, 95% CI: 1.05-1.07) and serious (OR = 1.15, 95% CI: 1.13-1.19) level of job burnout. Stressors from vocational interest produced the greatest magnitude of odds ratio (OR = 1.76, 95% CI: 1.62-1.92) for serious degree of burnout, followed by doctor-patient relationship, interpersonal relationship as well as other domains of occupational stressors. CONCLUSIONS: Job burnout was very common among healthcare professionals working in Chinese county-level health alliances, different occupational stressors had associations with job burnout. Appropriate and effective policies and measures should be developed and implemented.