Perceptions of control, burnout, and depressive symptomatology: a replication and extension

Abstract

In this 2-year follow-up of 100 nurses, significant increases were observed for burnout and depressive symptomatology. Analysis of change scores and structural equations suggested that the variance shared by burnout and depression (20%) may be attributable to their co-development. A definitive temporal sequence among measures of burnout and depressive affect was not obtained. At initial assessment and follow-up, burned-out nurses displayed accurate perceptions of job uncontrollability, whereas non-burned-out nurses overestimated job control. Perceptual accuracy increased in linear fashion with degree of burnout, irrespective of depressive symptomatology. Frequency of threats to job control predicted a significant amount of the variance in perceptual accuracy, supporting the view that "burnout realism" is reality driven.