BACKGROUND: Physicians experience high level of occupational burnout that
exposes them to physical and mental exhaustion as well as job
dissatisfaction.
OBJECTIVE: The association between different types of personality traits and
occupational burnout among a group of Iranian general practitioners is
assessed.
METHODS: One hundred general practitioners working in emergency wards of
eight hospitals in Iran were studied. Occupational burnout was measured
using the Maslach Burnout Inventory and type of personality was assessed
using the Holland personality test.
RESULTS: An average of 15.4% of personnel displayed high frequency in
subscale of emotional exhaustion, 14.5% displayed high frequency in
subscale of depersonalization, and 10.2% displayed high frequency in
subscale of lack of personal accomplishment. Realistic personality was
revealed in 2%, social types in 41%, investigative type in 35%,
enterprising types in 6.0%, artistic type in 13% and conventional type
of personality in 3.0% of them. The subjects with social personality
experienced the lowest burnout. There were negative correlation between
physician experiences and different subdivisions of burnout.
CONCLUSION: A notable number of Iranian general practitioners suffered
occupational burnout, especially emotional exhaustion. The majority of
physicians had social or investigative personalities.
