Prevalence of burnout in mental health nurses and related factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of burnout in mental health nurses and to identify its predictors. A systematic review was conducted of studies published in the following databases: CINAHL, Dialnet, LILACS, ProQuest, PsycINFO, PubMed, SciELO, and Scopus. The search equation used was "Nurs * AND Burnout AND mental health". Subsequently, three fixed-effects meta-analyses were performed, one for each dimension of burnout, to calculate its prevalence and the corresponding confidence intervals. The data were analysed using StatsDirect meta-analysis software. Eleven studies were finally included (n = 11). In most cases, the literature informs about moderate levels of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. The studies inform that variables such as work overload, work-related stress, professional seniority, male gender, being single, and aggression at work, among other factors, contribute to burnout development. The meta-analytic prevalence estimations of burnout with a sample of n = 868 mental health nurses are 25% for high emotional exhaustion, 15% for depersonalization, and 22% for low personal accomplishment. From a workforce development and safety perspective, it is important for managers to address the emotional exhaustion and low personal accomplishment aspects of burnout reported in the workplace by mental health nurses.