Division of Public and Organizational Health, Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Swiss Med Wkly. 2012 May 31;142:w13577. doi: 10.4414/smw.2012.13577. eCollection 2012.
Effort-reward imbalance (ERI) and work-life imbalance (WLI) are recognised risk factors for work stress and burnout but have not been investigated conjointly so far and compared with each other in this regard. The present cross-sectional study provides initial evidence by studying associations of ERI and WLI with general stress and burnout simultaneously.
The study was based on survey data collected in 2007 among the personnel of a large public hospital in the canton of Zurich covering a random sample of 502 employees of all professions and positions. Prevalence rates, correlation coefficients, standardised regression coefficients and odds ratios were calculated as measures of association.
Concerning the main research question and relating to the entire study sample, WLI was found to be more strongly associated with general stress and burnout than ERI. As stratified analyses with regard to burnout have shown, this applied especially to nursing, technical care and emergency staffs who account for more than three fifths of the study population. But for other professional categories like physicians, therapists and medical-technical personnel the opposite of a stronger association of ERI with burnout was found. Results also suggested that general stress plays a (rather minor) mediating role in the relationships between ERI and burnout and particularly between WLI and burnout.
For the prevention of chronic stress and burnout one should consider both high efforts put into work as well as all job demands that are competing and interfering with family responsibilities or other private activities should be considered.
努力-回报失衡（ERI）和工作-生活失衡（WLI）被认为是工作压力和倦怠的风险因素，但迄今为止尚未对此进行联合调查和相互比较。本横断面研究通过同时研究 ERI 和 WLI 与一般压力和倦怠的关联，提供了初步证据。
该研究基于 2007 年在苏黎世州一家大型公立医院的人员中收集的调查数据，涵盖了所有职业和职位的 502 名员工的随机样本。计算了患病率、相关系数、标准化回归系数和优势比作为关联的度量。
关于主要研究问题并涉及整个研究样本，与 ERI 相比，WLI 与一般压力和倦怠的关联更强。正如与倦怠相关的分层分析所示，这尤其适用于占研究人群五分之三以上的护理、技术护理和急救人员。但对于其他专业类别，如医生、治疗师和医疗技术人员，发现 ERI 与倦怠的关联更强。结果还表明，一般压力在 ERI 和倦怠之间以及 WLI 和倦怠之间的关系中起着（相当次要的）中介作用。
为了预防慢性压力和倦怠，应该考虑到工作中的高投入以及所有与家庭责任竞争和干扰的工作要求或其他私人活动。
