Personal and Professional Factors Impacting Respiratory Therapists' Burnout in Georgia

Respiratory therapists are involved in daily direct patient care for various chronic illnesses, even up to patient death; this work can take an emotional toll on the therapists' health and career. While there have been studies on burnout among health professionals, there is little research on burnout among respiratory therapists. Additional research was needed for this specific field because respiratory therapists face unique stresses and are understudied. Guided by the social ecological model, this study aimed to determine how personal and professional factors impact burnout among respiratory therapists. Personal factors were defined as age, marital status, number of children under the age of 18 living in the household, and health status. Professional factors were defined as emotional and social support and total hours worked per week. Using a quantitative, cross-sectional design, 124 licensed respiratory therapists in Georgia completed a self-administered online survey consisting of a single-item question to measure level of burnout and questions from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey on demographics and personal, professional, lifestyle, and health factors. Data were analyzed to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals using logistic regression. Although there was no overall association between burnout and personal factors, a statistically significant protective effect against burnout was found with professional factors, specifically emotional and social support during the past month (AOR= 0.180, 0.074-0.435 CI, p = 0.001). These findings have implications for positive social change, as they will help the efforts of respiratory associations and stakeholders in developing evidence-based prevention, education, and public policies that may reduce burnout among respiratory therapists.