The Influence of Self-care Practices on Burnout among Professional Women in High-stress Environments

Abstract

Burnout is a critical issue among professional women in high-stress environments, emphasizing the need for effective self-care strategies. This study examines the relationships between physical, psychological, and spiritual self-care and burnout, and its collective and individual contributions to predicting burnout levels and using a sample population of 137 professional women in Nigeria. Results revealed significant negative correlations between burnout and physical self-care (r = -0.43, p < 0.05), psychological self-care (r = -0.54, p < 0.05), and spiritual self-care (r = -0.42, p < 0.05), indicating that these practices collectively reduce burnout. The composite contribution of these self-care domains to the prediction of burnout (R² = 0.300, Adj R² = 0.285), highlights their combined importance. However, 71.5% of the variance remains attributable to other factors beyond this study's scope. Psychological self-care emerged as the only significant predictor of burnout (β = -0.419, t = -3.802, p < 0.05), contributing to a 41.9% reduction in burnout tendencies. In contrast, physical self-care (β = 0.071, t = 0.672, p > 0.05) and spiritual self-care (β = 0.107, t = 1.094, p > 0.05) did not independently predict burnout, suggesting limited standalone effects. These findings underscore the critical role of psychological self-care in mitigating burnout. While physical and spiritual self-care have value, psychological self-care demonstrates the strongest influence. Future research should investigate additional burnout-related factors to deepen understanding and improve interventions. Keywords: burnout, high-stress environment, professional women, self-care practices