Assessment of the Personal Losses Suffered by Correctional Officers due to Burnout Syndrome

BACKGROUND: Professional burnout is defined as a state of depletion and loss of motivation accompanied by different mental and physical symptoms. OBJECTIVE: To assess personal losses suffered by correctional officers due to burnout. METHODS: This cross-sectional study conducted between June and December 2012 included 201 correctional officers in two Bulgarian prisons. The mean age of the whole group was 41.2 (SD 8.0) years. The respondents was mostly male (56.7%), married (72.6%), had a secondary educational level (61.7%), and 76.1% of them had been in current prison work over 5 years. RESULTS: The demographic characteristics had no influence on the occurrence of burnout but there was a correlation between level of burnout and the number of sick-leaves, the need for medical help, and the expenses spent on medications. Officers affected by burnout took more sick-leaves and this affected adversely their remuneration as they lost 3.1% of their annual wages. Their expenses spent on user fees for medical services were 3 times higher. Their monthly expenses spent on medications were 3.14 times higher than those of people without the burnout syndrome. CONCLUSION: The high level of burnout has a negative personal economic effect on the prison employees.