Prevalence of stress, burnout, and job satisfaction among mental healthcare professionals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

OBJECTIVE: To assess the levels of stress, burnout, and job satisfaction among mental healthcare professionals in Jeddah City, Saudi Arabia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on mental healthcare professionals in Jeddah between January 2017 and October 2018. Sociodemographic characteristics and levels of stress, burnout, and job satisfaction were assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale-14 (PSS-14), Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS). Descriptive statistics were used. Independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, Mann-Whitney, and Kruskal-Wallis tests were conducted to assess for effects of demographic variables on the perceived stress score, emotional exhaustion (EE) score, depersonalization (DP) score, professional accomplishment (PA) score, and the job satisfaction score (JSS). RESULTS: A total of 107 participants were included (50.5% men; 49.5% women) with response rate of 79.2%. Prevalence of stress was 56.1%. High levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were present among 41 (38.3%) and 26 (24.3%) of the respondents, respectively, while high score of low personal accomplishment were present among 61 (57%) respondents. In terms of job satisfaction, 25 (23.4%) were satisfied and 74 (69.2%) were indecisive. Male participants’ emotional exhaustion score (27±12) was significantly higher than females (22 ±10), (t(105) = 1.99, p-value = 0.049). Also, participants with a monthly income above SR 20,000 had significantly higher total job satisfaction (p-value = 0.041). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest rates of stress and burnout among mental health professionals that warrant attention, with less than one-quarter of the participants being satisfied with their jobs. Further studies are needed to expand the findings and to explore the contributing factors. Additionally, interventions should be established by authorities to address the increasing rates of stress and burnout.