Alexithymia and its relationship with burnout, personality factors and work shift in nurses working in teaching hospitals of Tabriz in

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Alexithymia as a personality trait and associated with difficulty in identifying and describing feelings. Alexithymic peoples have a limited ability to adapt with stressful conditions, which may cause physical and psychological problems in them. The aim of this study was to investigate the alexithymia and its relationship with burnout, personality traits and shift work among nurses. Methods: This descriptive-correlational study was performed on 225 people including 86 male and 149 female nurses from educational hospitals affiliated to Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in 2017 who were selected by relative random sampling method. Data were collected by Maslach Job Burnout Inventory, Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), and demographic Questionnaire. Data were analyzed by Pearson correlation and regression analysis. Results: In this study, the mean and standard deviation of total alexithymia and its sub-scales, difficulty in identifying feelings, difficulty in describing feelings and externally-oriented were 56.78 ± 8.64, 16.48±5.16, 13.97 ± 2.52 and 26.31 ± 4.1 respectively. Also, the mean and standard deviation of total occupational burnout and five personality factors of neuroticism, extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were 49.78 ± 13.67, 27.33 ± 6.14, , 26.44 ± 5.05, 24.65, 4.86, 25.15 ± 5.07, and 27.64 ± 4.77, respectively. The findings of this study showed that there is a significant positive correlation between alexithymia components and burnout (P <0.001). Also it has shown that there is a significant positive relationship between neuroticism, openness to experience, and agreeableness with alexithymia, and a significant negative correlation between extroversion and conscientiousness with alexithymia (P <0.001). Contrary to job burnout and its personal accomplishment component, there was no significant relationship between shift work and alexithymia and its components (P <0.05). Among demographic variables, alexithymia had a significant relationship only with gender, job status, but burnout was correlated with gender, education, employment status and extra shift (P <0.05). Conclusion: Based on the results of this research, alexithymia is associated with burnout and personality factors, therefore, it is recommended that these factors be carefully considered in the prevention and reduction of burnout. It is also possible to provide educational and interventional programs to improve and change the working environment of nurses in order to improve the work environment, reduce their emotional stress and burnout.