Influence of sleep on symptom improvement and return to work in clinical burnout.

Objectives: The current study examined the extent to which symptom improvement and full return to work occurs among clinically burnt-out employees and what the influence of concurring sleep problems is with respect to health recovery.

Methods: Fifty-nine burnt-out employees on extended sick leave assessed their symptoms for 2 weeks using an electronic diary. After 6 months, the measurements were repeated.

Electronic diary evidence on energy erosion in clinical burnout.

Burnout is generally defined as a state of severe exhaustion. So far, research has predominantly focused on relatively mild burnout in employees able to work despite their complaints. This study examines energy depletion in clinical burnout (e.

Evidence that impaired sleep recovery may complicate burnout improvement independently of depressive mood.

Objective: This article examines recovery through sleep in relation to sleep quality, exhaustion, and depression in clinical burnout. We focus on actual recovery per night, given its relevance to burnout improvement.

Methods: Sixty clinically burned-out participants and 40 healthy controls recorded symptoms with an electronic diary for 2 weeks at random times per day.

Exhaustion and endocrine functioning in clinical burnout: an in-depth study using the experience sampling method.

The current study investigates the relationship between HPA-axis functioning and burnout symptoms by employing an electronic symptom diary. This diary method circumvents the retrospection bias induced by symptom questionnaires and allows to study relationships within-in addition to between-subjects. Forty two clinically burned-out participants completed the exhaustion subscale of the Maslach burnout inventory and kept an electronic diary for 2 weeks to assess momentary exhaustion and daily recovery through sleep.

Feasibility of an electronic diary in clinical burnout.

Electronic diaries overcome important drawbacks of retrospective reports and capture fluctuations of psychological states and behavior. This study represents the first use of this method in clinically burned-out participants and aims to establish its feasibility concerning participant acceptability, compliance, and reactivity in this sample. Electronic diary measurement of burnout symptoms was performed 5 times a day for 2 weeks in 60 burned-out participants on sick leave and in 40 healthy controls.