The “Are You Headed for Caregiver Burnout?” quiz is designed to be a measure of how likely it is that a caregiver will experience burnout related to the stress from their job. It is an interesting quiz because it focuses on the effects that caregiving is having on the personal life of the quiz taker, rather than on the workplace itself. It highlights a number of personal things such as alcohol use, cigarettes and coffee as well as on the caregiver’s sleeping patterns and time for leisure activities (Sherman, 2004). Research suggests that having time outside of work to focus on other things is one of the best ways of preventing burnout (Sherman, 2004). The assumptions of this quiz are that the best way of predicting burnout are based on the ways that caregiving affects how the caregiver lives and experiences the world out of work.
Results and Assessment of Structure
This quiz highlighted a number of important things for me. I found that I was not sleeping as well as I had assumed and that I was drinking more coffee than I realized. This suggests that I have some chance of experiencing burnout related to my job, although not a high risk. I think the important thing I learnt here was that work can have an impact on health and my personal life even though they might appear separated. It has been shown that sleeping patterns are a good indicator of stress levels (Medland et al., 2004), which explains why this was included in the quiz and its relationship to burnout. The assumption is that feeling stressed at work will lead to interruptions at night where you may feel unable to sleep. This, in turn, may be linked to an increase in coffee drinking and/or the use of alcohol and prescription sedatives (Maytum et al., 2004), which are also included on the quiz.
One of the most important parts of the quiz, for me, was the inclusion of a question asking about how often I feel overwhelmed as a caregiver. This is important to understand because caregiving is an emotionally and spiritually demanding job and it can feel overwhelming at times (Neville & Cole, 2004). It is fine to feel overwhelmed sometimes, but it can also lead to burnout and high levels of stress if it is not dealt with properly (Kaur et al., 2013). Including this on the quiz was a decision based on how important it is to try and acknowledge these feelings before they become a problem in terms of mental, physical, and spiritual health. It is also an important indicator of whether the demands of the caregiver are too high, and it can be useful to start to delegate some tasks or reduce shift work for a period of time to help alleviate this issue (Cohen-Katz et al., 2004).
Summary
Overall, the quiz provides several interesting insights into burnout in caregivers and the different ways that it can manifest as symptoms. The quiz is an important way of highlighting that burnout does not just occur within the workplace, but has an effect on all areas of life. Whilst my results suggest that I am not at risk of nurse burnout, I am now more aware of areas that I need to focus on to help keep this risk low. The quiz is also a useful way of telling whether or not another caregiver may need help or guidance because they are stressed, and I plan to take the message of the quiz and incorporate it into my relationships with others. It is necessary to understand the importance of caregiver burnout and stress in the profession and this quiz is a useful tool for identifying it before it starts to be a problem.
There are a number of ways that I can use the results of this quiz to help guide me as a caregiver. Although I am not currently at risk of burnout, I am aware that there are some parts of my role as caregiver that are having a negative effect on my psychological health. I am going to focus on ensuring that I take time for myself more often and focus on spiritual growth. This will help to give me some time away from being a caregiver so that I am not constantly thinking about my job. I am also going to try and get a more regular sleeping pattern as this can help to prevent burnout and might also allow me to cut down the amount of coffee that I drink, which in turn should reduce stress and feelings of being overwhelmed. These elements are all important in being a great care giver, but also in ensuring that the individual is well-rested enough to find balance and harmony in all areas of their life. It is vital that caregivers are aware of their own needs.
I am going to take more time to focus on being present spiritually for the people that I work with and myself. This means taking more time to engage with my beliefs and to really use them to help others. This will also help to make my life calmer and spiritually fulfilling and may also even help my patients. I also hope that this will reduce the amount of stress that I am feeling through the ability to communicate with God when I am feeling overwhelmed. Overall, there are so many ways in which I can improve my practice and to help feel better about my role and to reduce stress. This quiz helps to highlight some of the areas that I need to focus on, and I can use spiritual growth to help me through this. The two elements of being spiritual and being a caregiver are not separate for me, and I can use both of these things to help support me and draw strength from in all areas of my life. This will help to reduce the stress that I sometimes feel and reduce the likelihood that I will suffer from burnout in the future.
References
Cohen-Katz, J., Wiley, S. D., Capuano, T., Baker, D. M., & Shapiro, S. (2004). The effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on nurse stress and burnout: a quantitative and qualitative study. Holistic Nursing Practice, 18(6), 302–308.
Kaur, D., Sambasivan, M., & Kumar, N. (2013). Effect of spiritual intelligence, emotional intelligence, psychological ownership and burnout on caring behaviour of nurses: a cross-sectional study. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 22(21–22), 3192–3202.
Maytum, J. C., Heiman, M. B., & Garwick, A. W. (2004). Compassion fatigue and burnout in nurses who work with children with chronic conditions and their families. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 18(4), 171–179.
Medland, J., Howard-Ruben, J., & Whitaker, E. (2004). Fostering psychosocial wellness in oncology nurses: addressing burnout and social support in the workplace. In Oncology nursing forum (Vol. 31). Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=0190535X&AN=11913790&h=RZ6Pg%2FSRI8Scykpo%2BAAqCDvAnl9FJEE4laxd5V3BZciI0Gu2tZwviaAXDOGhnz5XzXSenz%2FR3SYRfuOT01WvzQ%3D%3D&crl=c
Neville, K., & Cole, D. A. (2013). The relationships among health promotion behaviors, compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction in nurses practicing in a community medical center. Journal of Nursing Administration, 43(6), 348–354.
Sherman, D. W. (2004). Nurses’ Stress & Burnout: How to care for yourself when caring for patients and their families experiencing life-threatening illness. AJN The American Journal of Nursing, 104(5), 48–56.
