The Effect of the Relationship Between Expertise Area and Daily Working Periods in the Levels of Dentistry: The Field Research in Istanbul

Abstract

In this study, it was aimed to investigate the relationship between the working hours of the health professional groups according to their expert status and the dimension of the burnout of dentists.

In 2018, 532 dentists working in a clinic and working in the public sector were interviewed. A questionnaire regarding the occupational burnout was prepared. The data was collected as a result of the face-to-face interviews. The data was analyzed by using the SPSS program (chi-square test) and the results were reported in our study.

2.2% (8 people), 10.7% (39 people), 36.0% (131 people), 40.1% (146 people) and 11.0% (40 people) of the dentists who have no specialization (364 people) in participant group have worked 0-2 hours, 2-4 hours, 4-6 hours, 6-8 hours and more than 8 hours per day, respectively. 4.8% (8 people), 8.9% (15 people), 30.4% (51 people), 41.7% (70 people) and 14.3% (24 people) of the dentists who have specialization (168 people) in participant group have worked 0-2 hours, 2-4 hours, 4-6 hours, 6-8 hours and more than 8 hours per day, respectively (p=0,283).

Burnout levels differ between occupational groups, according to our research. There is a distinction between burnout in a teacher and in an academic, or between burnout in an academic and in a physician. The medical profession has a similar characteristic. In other words, there are differences between the burnout of a surgeon and a dentist. The relationship between specialization in the field of dentists and working time, which is a factor affecting burnout, was investigated in our study, and no relationship was found between dentists' working time and their specialization.