Preventing burnout in mental health workers at interpersonal level: an Italian pilot study

Abstract

This pilot study longitudinally evaluated the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at preventing burnout syndrome through the improvement of interpersonal relationship management among Italian mental health workers employed in both public and private services. Indeed, previous findings and a large part of the target group stated that the interpersonal relationship was one of the most important sources of stress at work. The results showed positive effects (i.e. a reduction of the level of Depersonalization), both at the end of training activities and at the follow-up. Since we did not include any control group, the results of this study had to be considered with caution and should be confirmed by future research.