Burnout in clinicians working with offenders with personality disorder

The Journal of Forensic Practice,Volume 19, Issue 2, May 2017. Purpose The present paper examines levels of clinician burnout in a community forensic Personality Disorder (PD) service, and explores how burnout may arise and be minimised within a service of this nature. Design/methodology/approach A mixed methods approach was utilised, assessing levels of burnout and making comparisons with a comparable previous study. Focus group data regarding burnout and suggestions for reducing the risk of burnout was analysed using thematic analysis. Findings Levels of burnout were generally found to be higher in the current sample when compared with generic PD services. Qualitative data suggest that working in a forensic PD setting may pose a range of additional and complex challenges; these are explored in detail. Minimising burnout might be achieved by developing resilience, utilising humour, team coherence and ensuring that breaks are taken, and developing one ’s own strategies for “releasing pressure”. Research limitations/implications Practical implications The risk for burnout in clinicians working with offenders with PD may be higher than other groups of mental health clinicians. Despite this, attempts to minimise burnout can be made throu gh a range of practical strategies at the individual, team and organisational level. Originality/value This is the first project to assess levels of burnout specifically in a team of clinicians working with offenders with PD, and o...

Source: Journal of Forensic Practice - March 12, 2017 Category: Forensic Medicine Source Type: research