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Modelling self-diagnosed burnout as a categorical syndrome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2022

Gabriela Tavella ,
Michael J. Spoelma Open the ORCID record for Michael J. Spoelma [Opens in a new window] ,
Dusan Hadzi-Pavlovic ,
Adam Bayes ,
Artin Jebejian ,
Vijaya Manicavasagar ,
Peter Walker  and
Gordon Parker Open the ORCID record for Gordon Parker [Opens in a new window]
Gabriela Tavella
Affiliation:
Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Michael J. Spoelma
Affiliation:
Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Dusan Hadzi-Pavlovic
Affiliation:
Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Adam Bayes
Affiliation:
Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia Black Dog Institute, Randwick, NSW, Australia
Artin Jebejian
Affiliation:
Gordon Private Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Vijaya Manicavasagar
Affiliation:
Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia Black Dog Institute, Randwick, NSW, Australia
Peter Walker
Affiliation:
Lumiere Clinical Psychology, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Gordon Parker*
Affiliation:
Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia Gordon Private Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
*
Author for correspondence: Gordon Parker, Email: g.parker@unsw.edu.au
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Abstract

Objective:

There is currently little consensus as to how burnout is best defined and measured, and whether the syndrome should be afforded clinical status. The latter issue would be advanced by determining whether burnout is a singular dimensional construct varying only by severity (and with some level of severity perhaps indicating clinical status), or whether a categorical model is superior, presumably reflecting differing ‘sub-clinical’ versus ‘clinical’ or ‘burning out’ vs ‘burnt out’ sub-groups. This study sought to determine whether self-diagnosed burnout was best modelled dimensionally or categorically.

Methods:

We recently developed a new measure of burnout which includes symptoms of exhaustion, cognitive impairment, social withdrawal, insularity, and other psychological symptoms. Mixture modelling was utilised to determine if scores from 622 participants on the measure were best modelled dimensionally or categorically.

Results:

A categorical model was supported, with the suggestion of a sub-syndromal class and, after excluding such putative members of that class, two other classes. Analyses indicated that the latter bimodal pattern was not likely related to current working status or differences in depression symptomatology between participants, but reflected subsets of participants with and without a previous diagnosis of a mental health condition.

Conclusion:

Findings indicated that sub-categories of self-identified burnout experienced by the lay population may exist. A previous diagnosis of a mental illness from a mental health professional, and therefore potentially a psychological vulnerability factor, was the most likely determinant of the bimodal data, a finding which has theoretical implications relating to how best to model burnout.

Keywords

burnoutdepressionclassificationstresscognitive function
Type
Original Article
Information
Acta Neuropsychiatrica , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , February 2023 , pp. 50 - 58
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Scandinavian College of Neuropsychopharmacology

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