Time Is the Fire in Which We Burn (Out): How Time Perspectives Affect Burnout Tendencies in Health Care Professionals Via Perceived Stress and Self-Efficacy

Aim and Background: The purpose of the current study is to examine the influence of time perspectives (TP) on the burnout-tendency of health care professionals. The concept of TP delivers a construct on how individuals frame their thinking and behavior on the emotional, cognitive and motivational level towards the past, the present and the future. Consequently, we assume that the TP configuration of health care professionals, determines how vulnerable or reluctant they will be to burnout. TP is assumed to influence the stress perception and the degree of self-efficacy which are in turn well-known factors of influence on burnout. Methods: The sample consisted of 398 health care professionals in Germany. We have measured TPs by the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) and the burnout tendencies by the German version of the Maslach Burnout-Inventory (MBI-GS-D). Results: The Past-Negative and Past-Positive perspectives were identified as factors that were significantly associated with the burnout dimensions of emotional exhaustion, cynicism and personal accomplishment. The Present-Fatalistic orientation was only associated with cynicism and the Future dimension with cynicism and personal accomplishment. Furthermore, we observed that high deviations from a Negative Time Perspective (DNTP) caused a decrease on all three burnout dimensions. In addition, the influence of the DNTP on emotional exhaustion, cynicism and personal accomplishment was fully mediated by perceived stress and self-efficacy. Conclusion: We identified time perspective as a substantial factor of influence on burnout for health care professions and observed an underlying mechanism of the influence of DNTP on burnout. Both factors are important for practical therapeutic conclusions, as well as for a better understanding of the role of TP for burnout.