Bianchi Renzo, Schonfeld Irvin Sam
Institute of Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, NE, Switzerland.
Department of Psychology, The City College of the City University of New York, New York City, NY, USA.
Scand J Psychol. 2018 Oct;59(5):532-539. doi: 10.1111/sjop.12460. Epub 2018 Jun 29.
Burnout has been defined as a condition in which individuals are left exhausted by a long-term confrontation with unmanageable job stressors. The question of whether burnout reflects anything other than depressive responses to unresolvable stress remains an object of debate. In this 911-participant study (83% female; mean age: 42.36), we further addressed the issue of burnout-depression overlap. Burnout was assessed with the exhaustion subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS) and depression with the PHQ-8. The relationships of burnout and depression with three job-related variables - illegitimate work tasks, work-nonwork interference, and job satisfaction - and three "context-free" variables - social support, general health status, and trait anxiety - were examined. Burnout and depression were found to be strongly correlated, to cluster together, and to exhibit overlapping nomological networks. Remarkably, the average correlations of burnout and depression with job-related variables were almost identical. A principal component analysis and a principal axis factor analysis both showed that the items of the MBI-GS and of the PHQ-8 loaded on a single dimension. All in all, our findings are consistent with the view that burnout is a depressive condition. The distinction between burnout and depression may be an instance of the jangle fallacy.
职业倦怠被定义为个体因长期面对难以应对的工作压力源而精疲力竭的一种状态。职业倦怠是否反映了除对无法解决的压力产生抑郁反应之外的其他情况，这一问题仍然是一个争论的焦点。在这项有911名参与者的研究中（83%为女性；平均年龄：42.36岁），我们进一步探讨了职业倦怠与抑郁的重叠问题。使用马氏职业倦怠量表通用版（MBI-GS）的疲惫分量表评估职业倦怠，使用患者健康问卷-8（PHQ-8）评估抑郁。研究了职业倦怠和抑郁与三个与工作相关的变量——不合理的工作任务、工作与非工作的干扰以及工作满意度——以及三个“无背景”变量——社会支持、总体健康状况和特质焦虑——之间的关系。结果发现，职业倦怠和抑郁高度相关、聚集在一起，并呈现出重叠的概念网络。值得注意的是，职业倦怠和抑郁与工作相关变量的平均相关性几乎相同。主成分分析和主轴因子分析均表明，MBI-GS和PHQ-8的项目都加载在一个单一维度上。总而言之，我们的研究结果与职业倦怠是一种抑郁状态的观点一致。职业倦怠和抑郁之间的区别可能是一种语义错觉的例子。
