FINAL REPORT – 18.12.2009

(a) Project title: Burnout in Paediatric Occupational Therapy Practice: Incidence and relationship to professional service provision in private and non-private sectors.
OT BOARD 2008000425 POULSEN
Account No: 429213933194
Chief Investigator: Dr Anne A. Poulsen
Registration Number: 822428
Address for Correspondence: 22 Mortlake Road, Graceville, 4075
Contact Phone: 3379 9769, Mobile Phone: 041 914 1969
Contact e-mail:
Work Organization: Occupational Therapy Department, Mater Children’s Hospital and Division of Occupational Therapy, School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Queensland
Second Investigator: Julie Henderson
Registration No: 833250
Contact Phone: 3278 1900
Work Organization: Julie Henderson Occupational Therapist for Children
Third Investigator: Veronica Castrisos
Registration No: 903847
Contact Phone:33005576
Work Organization: Vonny Castrisos: Occupational Therapist (Sole Practitioner, Private Practice) and Taigum SEDU, Association for Preschool Education of Deaf Children Inc.


(b) Progress of the Project

The project was completed in December 2009 with all progress milestones achieved. Three conference papers have been presented to date, and four research papers have been drafted, with two papers submitted and currently under review, and a further two papers in preparation.

Conference papers that have been presented to date, include:

1.  Poulsen, A. A., Meredith, P., & Yu, C. (2009). Attachment anxiety and burnout in paediatric occupational therapists. Postgraduate Research Conference, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, 25th November, 2009, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia. (Awarded runner up best conference presentation for Honour category).

2.  Poulsen, A. A., Henderson, J., Castrisos, V., Meredith, P., & Khan, A. (2009). Private practice: is it good for your health? OT Australia Queensland State Conference, “3D - Diamonds, Diversity, Directions”, 21-22nd November, 2009, Brisbane, Australia.

3.  Poulsen, A. A., Meredith, P., & Seak, E. (2009). Attachment, health and paediatric practice. OT Australia Queensland State Conference, “3D - Diamonds, Diversity, Directions”, 21-22nd November, 2009, Brisbane, Australia.

Research Papers under preparation, or submitted to journals include:

1.  Poulsen, A. A., Khan, A., Meredith, P., Henderson, J., & Castrisos, V. (under preparation). When private practitioners report cardiovascular disease: Identification of work-related protective factors. American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

2.  Meredith, P., Poulsen, A. A., Seak, E. X., Khan, A., Henderson, J., & Castristos, V. (submitted). Attachment and health among occupational therapists in paediatric practice. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal.

3.  Poulsen, A. A., Meredith, P., Yu, C., Khan, A., Henderson, J., & Castristos, V. (submitted). Exploring burnout and attachment in paediatric health workers. Journal of Psychosomatic Research.

4.  Meredith, P., Poulsen, A.A., Khan, A., Henderson, J., & Castrisos, V. (under preparation). Adult attachment theory is linked with work factors for paediatric occupational therapists. Australian Journal of Occupational Therapy.

(c) Procedure

Ethical clearance (number: 2008000407) was obtained from the Behavioural and Social Sciences Ethical Review Committee at The University of Queensland. Australian paediatric occupational therapists (n = 486) completed and returned a postal survey distributed to 1018 practitioners, through OT Australia state offices (n=928) and snowball recruitment (n = 90). This represented an acceptable return rate of 48%. Data was entered and analysed using SPSS Version 15.

(d) Findings

Data analysis revealed a model that fitted the data well (Hosmer-Lemeshow Chi-square(8) =5.56; p=0.6962) and was able to correctly classify about 88% of the cases (area under ROC curve=0.9893). Specifically, it was found that:

·  private sector practitioners had nearly double the odds of reporting cardiovascular disease compared to their counterparts who worked in the public sector (OR 1.93, 95% CI 1.08-3.69).

·  the odds of reporting cardiovascular disease was three times higher for occupational therapists who had respiratory diseases (e.g. bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma) than their colleagues who did not have the diseases (OR 3.07, 95% CI 1.49-6.34).

·  participants who perceived that they received ‘quite a lot’-‘a lot’ of return from work in terms of income and job benefits had less than half the odds of reporting cardiovascular disease compared to those who did not perceive any return from work (OR 0.43, 95% CI 0.19-0.97).

·  access to social support in the present job was found to be inversely associated with, and potentially protective for reported cardiovascular disease. For example, practitioners who perceived that they received some social support in their present job had one-third the odds of reporting cardiovascular disease than those who did not have any support (OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.14-0.83).

·  ratings on having a secure attachment style was inversely associated with reporting cardiovascular disease. Occupational therapists who reported ‘moderate-very much like me’ to describe their relationship style as being secure had one-third the odds of reporting cardiovascular disease than their counterparts who reported ‘not like me’ on this item (OR 0.35, 95% CI 0.15-0.82). Securely attached therapists reported less ill health and distress than those with insecure attachment patterns. Therapists with negative models of self were most at risk.

·  significantly higher levels of burnout were found for practitioners with negative models of self compared to those with positive models of self (F(3,457)=3.03, P=.029). Overall, fearful attachment style was the strongest predictor of burnout (F(2,468)=9.80, P<.001).

·  age was inversely associated with the reported cardiovascular disease with occupational therapists aged 45 or above having seven times more the odds of reporting the disease (OR 7.28, 95% CI 3.71-14.

Note: Further analyses will be undertaken and results reported to the Occupational Therapists Board of Queensland, when they are completed. The Board will also be notified when the journal publications have been accepted, and a copy of these publications will also be presented to the Board for their records.

(e) Whether the Project is fully and properly addressing the nature and dimension of the problem that the project is designed to address

The study has fulfilled its stated aims and data is being analysed that will inform professional colleagues, and guide future investigations. The three investigators have been approached to provide a workshop for OT Australia members and non-members. It has been agreed that a workshop will be undertaken in second semester 2010.

(f) Budget:

Item / Debit / Cost
UQ Project #001721 Grant Funding / 14,987.00
Specific Research Costs:
DATATIME, data entry and delivery / 3,982.97
Administrative Costs:
Postage of forms to DATA SERVICES LTD
Printing Reply Paid Enveloped
Printing 2500 copies of the Survey (WLB)
Printing Burnout Survey
Postage of reply paid envelopes
Postage of individual surveys x1100
Postage of surveys interstate
Printing and Postage costs from VAOT
Printing and Postage costs from SAAOT / 26.80
164.75
1,311.72
872.62
469.00
1,100.00
156.05
88.00
81.00
Personnel Costs/Salary:
Dr Anne Poulsen 72hrs work
May Lin 39hrs work / 4,008.00
1,533.52
Equipment Costs:
9 Boxes of C4 Envelopes of 250
10 Boxes of C4 Envelopes of 250
Envelopes with UQ crest, postage paid
2500 Reply Paid Envelopes
RM500 SKY Blue Paper / 362.52
402.80
7.98
340.37
74.70
Total / 14.982.80

(g) A statutory declaration by the Investigator that the Investigator has complied with Clause 5 in all respects. This was duly filed in the Interim Report May 2008.

(h) Statement of the Entity and a copy of all memoranda, receipts and invoices to verify the expenditure to the date of the report is filed at the School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland with copies of all invoices maintained by the Chief Investigator.

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