María Guadalupe Aldrete Rodríguez

Social Support, Burnout Syndrome and Occupational Exhaustion among Mexican Traffic Police Agents

The consequences of work-related stress on health are worrisome, and by the same token, so is Burnout Syndrome. However, it has been shown that social support can prevent, reduce or even combat individuals’ responses to stress. A descriptive, transverse study was carried out with the objective of determining the prevalence of both Burnout Syndrome and receiving social support for traffic police in Mexico. 875 traffic police participated in the study, men and women alike, from all work shifts, day and night. Three questionnaires were administered: one to record sociodemographic and professional data, as well as the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the modified Diaz Veiga Social Resources Inventory . Our data analysis obtained frequencies and percentages and also identified associations between the study’s variables. The prevalence of Burnout Syndrome was found to be 54.9% among the study’s participants. The social support networks designated as “low or poor” were shown to be associated with Burnout Syndrome, with p values less than .05, an odds ratio ( OR ) greater than 1 and a confidence interval that did not include the number one. In spite of the strong network of social support reported by participants, it seems that those social effects were not strong enough to combat Burnout Syndrome, and some resolution strategy ought to be implemented at the individual, group and organizational levels.

Factores psicosociales y síndrome de burnout en personal de enfermería de una unidad de tercer nivel de atención a la salud

El objetivo fue determinar la relacion entre los factores psicosociales laborables y el sindrome de Burnout en personal de enfermeria de una unidad de tercer nivel de atencion a la salud. Material y Metodos: Se trata de un estudio observacional, transversal y analitico en personal de enfermeria de una unidad de tercer nivel de atencion a la salud. Los datos se captaron con el instrumento de factores psicosociales de Silva y el MBI. Se analizaron con el apoyo del SPSS. Resultados: Participaron 163 personas de 21 servicios de la unidad de atencion; 88% eran mujeres, 41,4% laboraba en el turno matutino y 47,5% perciben la presencia de factores psicosociales negativos en su area de trabajo, siendo lo mas frecuente las exigencias laborales, remuneracion del rendimiento y condiciones inadecuadas en su lugar de trabajo. En cuanto al Burnout, 33,3% presentaba agotamiento emocional, 50,8% baja realizacion personal y 17,9% despersonalizacion. El agotamiento emocional se relaciono (p < a 0,05) con seis de las ocho areas de los factores psicosociales evaluados Conclusion: Se confirmo la relacion entre los factores psicosociales laborales y el sindrome de Burnout.

Evaluación de dos estrategias de educación nutricional vía radio en Guadalajara, México

Modifying knowledge and attitudes through persuasive communication in health via radio has produced encouraging results for public health planners. This studys objective was to measure the effect of an educational strategy on knowledge and attitudes towards nutrition in two marginalized communities in Guadalajara, Mexico. Two communities were randomly selected. In each community a group of individuals was invited to be exposed to radio broadcasts. Using a coded and structured instrument, knowledge and attitudes towards the contents of nutritional education for health were measured before and after the intervention in both groups. Group A (n = 37) was organized and exposed to the dynamics of the radio forum throughout the 4 months during which the project lasted. Group B (n = 33) was not organized, and listened to the radio program according to its own cultural dynamics. Median knowledge and attitudes (KA) for group A was 56.8 in the pre-test and 74.1 in the post-test (W: p = -0.05). In group B the KA results were 53.0 and 59.2, respectively (W: p = -0.05). The results emphasize the advantages of the radio forum as a health communications strategy for human nutrition.