Feelings of professional fulfilment and exhaustion in mental health personnel: The importance of organisational and individual factors

Background: Mental health personnel are at high risk for mental illness, burnout and suicide. Previous studies of this group of professionals have indicated the importance of organisational factors in explaining burnout, or exhaustion, and work satisfaction. This study looks more systematically at the contribution of organisational and individual factors to work-related exhaustion and to professional fulfilment, an expanded version of job satisfaction. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 1, 051 psychiatrists and mental health nurses in the city of Stockholm was carried out by postal questionnaire with a previously validated instrument. Multiple and logistic regressions were used to identify predictors of exhaustion and professional fulfilment. Results: Organisational characteristics were found to be more important than individual characteristics in predicting exhaustion and professional fulfilment in mental health professionals. Conclusions: The results indicate that the psychosocial work environment and well-being of mental health professionals can be improved by concentrating on organisational factors such as efficiency, personal development and goal quality.