Affiliations: [a] Departamento de Fisioterapia, Centro Superior de Estudios Universitarios (CSEU) La Salle, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| [b] Motion in Brains Research Group, Institute of Neuroscience and Sciences of the Movement (INCIMOV), Centro Superior de Estudios Universitarios (CSEU) La Salle, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| [c] Unidad de Trastornos Musculoesqueléticos, Instituto de Rehabilitación Funcional La Salle, Centro Superior Estudios Universitarios La Salle, Madrid, Spain
| [d]
Exercise Intervention for Health Research Group (EXINH-RG), Department of Physiotherapy, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
| [e] Instituto de Dolor Craneofacial y Neuromusculoesquelético (INDCRAN), Madrid, Spain
| [f] Servicio de Medicina Física y Rehabilitación, Hospital Universitario Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain
Correspondence:
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Address for correspondence: Roy La Touche, Departamento de Fisioterapia, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Centro Superior de Estudios Universitarios La Salle, Calle la Salle n° 10, 28023 Madrid, Spain. E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract: BACKGROUND:Burnout syndrome has been extensively studied in different health science professions. It has been less studied in physiotherapy than in professions such as medicine. Moreover, it is not known how the working condition influences this syndrome. OBJECTIVE:The main objective of this study was to compare the burnout index between contract and freelance physiotherapists in the private sector in the Community of Madrid, Spain. METHODS:A cross-sectional study was performed with 174 participants divided into 2 groups; one group was composed of contract physiotherapists (n = 87) and the other group was composed of freelance physiotherapists (n = 87). A Mann–Whitney U test was performed for comparison between the groups. Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used to analyze the correlations between the burnout syndrome index and the secondary variables. RESULTS:There were statistically significant differences when comparing the groups, with a large effect size for the burnout index with a higher rate among contract physiotherapists (78 [71–84.75]) than in freelance physiotherapists (61.5 [55–72.75]).There were also significant differences in the type of patients treated, number of patients treated per day, time spent per patient, and the annual salary range between the contract and freelance physiotherapists. CONCLUSION:Contract physiotherapists who participated in this study had a significantly higher burnout syndrome index than freelance physiotherapists. Other socio-occupational variables were also found to be related to the burnout syndrome index in freelance physiotherapists and contract physiotherapists. The results of this study could be of interest for new occupational health strategies to reduce the burnout index in contract physiotherapists.
