Credenze metacognitive e strategie di coping in operatori di cure domiciliari a rischio di burnout

The aim of palliative care is to improve the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness. Therefore, home care workers have daily confront with death and suffering of their patients and families. Hence, palliative home care may generate highly negative and stressful emotions for healthcare professionals, known as burnout syndrome. Research in the field of helping professions highlights the associations between dysfunctional coping strategies and burnout syndrome, but, at present, few studies explore the risk of burnout on home care workers. At the same time, there is a growing evidence for the metacognitions as the basis for the development and maintenance of emotional disorders. Aim of the present research is to examine the risk of burnout in palliative home care workers and its relationships with coping strategies and metacognitions. A sample of 62 healthcare workers of palliative care completed a demographic questionnaire, the MBI, the CISS and the MCQ-30. The results have shown that there was an average risk of Depersonalization subscale. Furthermore, results of correlational analysis have shown some significant correlations between MBI and other constructs. Finally, the results of regression analyses have shown that negative beliefs and cognitive distrust accounted for up to 21% of variance of risk burnout. If confirmed by future research, results of this study would have implications in clinical practice. Started from the relationship between burnout, coping strategies and metacognitions, psychological interventions based on metacognitive approach could have positive effects on palliative home care workers.