title: Burnout and health behaviors in health professionals from seven European countries.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Within an underlying health-impairing process, work stressors exhaust employees' mental and physical resources and lead to exhaustion/burnout and to health problems, with health-impairing behaviors being one of the potential mechanisms, linking burnout to ill health. The study aims to explore the associations between burnout and fast food consumption, exercise, alcohol consumption and painkiller use in a multinational sample of 2623 doctors, nurses and residents from Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Croatia and Macedonia, adopting a cross-national approach.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data are part of the international cross-sectional quantitative ORCAB survey. The measures included the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Health Behaviors Questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Burnout was significantly positively associated with higher fast food consumption, infrequent exercise, higher alcohol consumption and more frequent painkiller use in the full sample, and these associations remained significant after the inclusion of individual differences factors and country of residence. Cross-national comparisons showed significant differences in burnout and health behaviors, and some differences in the statistical significance and magnitude (but not the direction) of the associations between them. Health professionals from Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria reported the most unfavorable experiences.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Burnout and risk health behaviors among health professionals are important both in the context of health professionals' health and well-being and as factors contributing to medical errors and inadequate patient safety. Organizational interventions should incorporate early identification of such behaviors together with programs promoting health and aimed at the reduction of burnout and work-related stress.
authors.affiliation: Health Psychology Research Center, PO Box 238, 1113, Sofia, Bulgaria. annaalexandrova@yahoo.com.|Department of Psychology, Institute for Population and Human Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Street, bl. 6, fl. 5/6, 1113, Sofia, Bulgaria. annaalexandrova@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alexandrova-Karamanova
authors.affiliation: Health Psychology Research Center, PO Box 238, 1113, Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Todorova
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Social Policy, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Street, 540 06, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Montgomery
authors.affiliation: Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Efharis
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Panagopoulou
authors.affiliation: Business Research Unit - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Av. das Forças Armadas, Edificio ISCTE-IUL, 1649-026, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Babes Bolyai University, 37 Republicii Street, 400015, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baban
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Ege University, Halk Sagligi AD, 35100, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Asli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Davas
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Andrija Stampar School of Public Health, University of Zagreb, Rockefellerova 4, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Milan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Milosevic
authors.affiliation: Institute of Occupational Health of RM, WHO Collaborating Center, II Makedonska Brigada 43, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia.
authors.forename: Dragan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mijakoski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology; D000700:Analgesics / Q000009:adverse effects; D002031:Bulgaria; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000523:psychology*; D017523:Croatia; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology; D057140:Fast Foods / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece; D015438:Health Behavior; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology; D011174:Portugal; D018843:Republic of North Macedonia; D012383:Romania; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000700:Analgesics
keywords: Burnout; Cross-national; Health behaviors; Health professionals