SOP TRANSACTIONS ON PSYCHOLOGY VOLUME 1, NUMBER 1, March 2014 SOP TRANSACTIONS ON PSYCHOLOGY The Progressive Impact of Burnout on Maltese Nurses Michael Galea* Ph.D,University of Malta *Corresponding author: mgalea00@yahoo.com Abstract: Nursing profession is a highly stressful vocation. Participants (N=241), who work in three different hospitals in Malta, were assessed on the impact of burnout on their holistic wellbeing. Nurses completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Faith Maturity Scale, the Positive and Negative Affect Scale, the Big Five Personality Inventory, and demographic variables. Results from this cross-sectional correlational study indicated that: a) professional nurses in Malta suffer from high levels of burnout, particularly from high exhaustion and depersonalization and low professional accomplishment; b) as expected, burnout negatively correlated with subjective well-being; and c) a path analysis indicated the progressive impact of burnout, first on ones personality and affective mood, and eventually on ones wellbeing and spirituality. The implications and recommendations from these results were discussed. Keywords: Burnout, Nurses, Spirituality, Wellbeing, Personality, Affect 1. INTRODUCTION Based on the assertion by Maslach and Leiter[1], that burnout measures and assesses the dislocation between what people are and what they have to do it represents an erosion in values, dignity, spirit, and will, an erosion of the human soul (p.17), it is the scope of this study to evaluate key contributing factors to the well-being status of professional nurses. Burnout among nurses may very well serve as a direct blow to ones holistic mission, self-fulfillment, and identity as a professional nurse. Schaufeli and Enzmann[2] defined burnout as a gradually increasing, negative, job-related state of mind, that involved emotional exhaustion, decreased motivation and personal accomplishment at work, and a higher risk of dysfunctional job attitudes and behavior. Such a process increases gradually and is only recognized when it is late. Fearon and Nicol [3] found that the discrepancy between employees expectations and how much they were satisfied by their work environment was crucial in this burnout process. That burnout negatively correlates to wellbeing is well documented in research [4–6]. To understand better the concept of burnout, Maslach and Leiter [1], in their extensive research on burnout and their creation of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), explained it in terms of: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduction in perceived personal and professional accomplishment. Although this may not be enough, their results are definitely meaningful and noteworthy to our subject. 1