Effectiveness of Existential Group Therapy in Reducing Occupational Burn-out of Employees Working in Psychic Patient Centers

Introduction: Staff burn out at Psychiatric Residential Treatment Centers threatens the treatment process of patients. The objective of the current assessment is to evaluate the effectiveness of existential group therapy on decreasing the burn-out and its respective scales among staff. Methods: The current study, uses a semi-experimental assessment through pre-test and post-test tools and a control group. The statistical population of this research are the male staff working at psychiatric residential treatment sections and centers in Mashhad. The statistical sample is selected through targeted non-random sampling. The burn out test was distributed among the staff and 20 of them with higher scores who volunteered to attend group therapies were selected and were randomly assigned to the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group attended 10 sessions of 90 minutes group therapy; meanwhile the control group received no intervention. The members of both groups filled out Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) questioner both before and after the group therapy sessions. Data retrieved from the tests is analyzed at two levels of descriptive statistics and inferential statistics with SPSS. Results: Results of multivariable co-variance analysis shows that Existential group therapy decreases burn out and its respective scales (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and lack of personal accomplishment). Conclusions: Bearing in mind the effectiveness of existential group therapy on the burn-out scales, it can be used for prevention and health improvement among staff.