Correlation between Quality of Work Life and Job Burnout in Midwives

Job burnout of healthcare professionals results in poor quality of care, making them leave the profession. A direct relationship between quality of work‑life and job burnout is not clear among midwives. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between the quality of work‑life and burnout in midwives.

This correlational cross‑sectional study was conducted by using census sampling and participation of 282 midwives working in all private and public hospitals with labor wards (n = 17) in Isfahan, Iran, in 2018. Quality of Work‑life Questionnaire and Maslach Burnout Inventory were used. Partial correlation and regression analysis were used to analyze the data in SPSS.19 software.

Regarding the three dimensions of job burnout, an average level of emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment as well as a low level of depersonalization were observed in the participants. The total score of quality of work‑life had a significant inverse correlation only with the dimension of emotional exhaustion (r = −0.43, p > 0.001). The dimensions of quality of work‑life were predictive of 28% and 12% variance of job burnout in the dimensions of emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment (R2 = 0.28 and R2 = 0.12, respectively).

Job burnout is correlated to the quality of work life among midwives. To improve the quality of midwives’ services and prevent their job burnout, especially emotional exhaustion, more attention should be paid to improving the quality of their work‑life.