| Abstrakt: |
This article focuses on the validity of the Maslach burnout inventory (MBI), widely used instrument to measure burnout. Burnout is seen as a long-term reaction to occupational stress. The term burnout itself was introduced in the seventies to refer to a phenomenon, which was observed among social workers who had to deal with emotionally needy and demanding individuals. From this study it can be concluded that the MBI is a suitable instrument for administration among Dutch dentists. Reliability coefficients on the three scales are very similar to the manual scores. Theory and instrument originate from, and to a great extent rely on, occupations in the field of social work, nursing and teaching. As was stated in the introduction, dentistry has too many deviations from these occupations to adopt the instrument just like that. The original MBI has been used and validated regularly, which is true to a much lesser degree of its modified translation MBI. Since it appears to be a suitable instrument to measure burnout among dentists, it is expected that much can be learned from a variety of variables that may correlate with the three dimensions of burnout. From studies on occupational stress in dentistry it is well known that certain risk factors are recognized, such as lack of social support, lack of career perspective, or conflicts between providing optimal care and running a business. As burnout is considered to be a possible long-term reaction to occupational stress, structural research on this topic is necessary. |
