Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health 23 (2023) 101359 Available online 19 July 2023 2213-3984/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of INDIACLEN. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Professional burnout in primary health care workers of the Republic of Kazakhstan Lyudmila Migina a, * , Ayan Myssayev b , Serik Meirmanov c , Assem Uristemova a a Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Semey Medical University, 103 Abay street, Semey, Kazakhstan b Department of Science and Human Resources, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan c Ritsumeikan Asia Pacifc University, Beppu, Japan A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Primary health care physicians Primary health care nurses Professional burnout General practice Emotional burnout ABSTRACT Background/objectives: Emotional exhaustion is the most common feature of overall burnout among primary care physicians. The purpose of our study is to identify professional burnout among doctors and nurses of the highest level. Methods: The data were obtained using a social survey of doctors and nurses in primary health care organizations. Using the MBI questionnaire. The study locations were medical centers in urban and rural areas in eight regions of Kazakhstan. A total of 612 urban and 244 rural primary health care workers took part. Results: Mean score ±standard deviation on the exhaustion subscale was 32.6 ± 13.5, on the depersonalization subscale — 14.4 ± 6.1, on the personal achievement subscale — 42.2 ± 7.5. Overall, the high prevalence of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal achievement was 57.4%, 64.6%, and 65.0%, respectively. Statistically signifcant predictors for emotional burnout were such as the location of work, urban or rural (OR = 1.973; p < 0.050, as well as who the employee was a doctor or nurse (OR = 2.137 p < 0.001). Work for a quieter job was a signifcant factor for personal achievement (OR = 4.709 p < 0.016), (OR = 9.341 p < 0.001), respectively. Statistically signifcant predictors for depersonalization was the status of the employee, namely, whether his work was permanent or not full -time (OR = 1.542 p < 0.001). Gender (OR = 0.350 p < 0.018), job location urban or rural (OR = 1.918 p < 0.050), and alcohol consumption (OR = 4.493 p < 0.021) were sta- tistically signifcant for personal achievement. Conclusion: Mental and psychological health issues have become an increasingly important research topic in recent years. In our study, more than half of the study population reported professional burnout, namely exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of personal achievement. We found a statistically signifcant relationship between emotional exhaustion and job location, as well as employee status, Depersonalization, and employee status and position. Personal achievements and gender with work location. To change my job to a more calm one was in all three parameters. Doctors have higher emotional exhaustion than nurses. 1. Introduction Widespread burnout among physicians has been known for over two decades. Ample evidence suggests that physician burnout has important personal and professional consequences. 1 Burnout negatively impacts physicians’ health, productivity, and patient care. Its prevalence is high among physicians, especially among primary care physicians. 2 Physi- cian burnout is a growing epidemic, with estimates showing that one out of three physicians experiences at least one dimension of burnout. 3–5 Research proves that work that once seemed important, meaningful, and diffcult to doctors is becoming unpleasant and meaningless. Maslach et al. describe burnout as positive energy turning into exhaustion, engagement/commitment into cynicism, and effciency into ineffciency. 6 Burnout is usually conceptualized as a multi-dimensional syndrome with three components 7 : emotional exhaustion (EE), when the emotional resources of workers are depleted, and they feel that they can no longer give their best on a psychological level; depersonalization (DP), in which employees develop a negative cynical attitude and feel- ings towards their clients; decrease in personal achievements (LA), * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: le.migina93@mail.ru (L. Migina), amyssayev@gmail.com (A. Myssayev), serikmed@gmail.com (S. Meirmanov), assem.uristemova@gmail.com (A. Uristemova). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cegh https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cegh.2023.101359