Abstract

Background and Aim: Death anxiety and burnout are among common problems among healthcare workers, especially among nurses, and have an adverse effect on patient care, physical and mental health, and medical expenses. Logotherapy can reduce many psychological problems by giving meaning and purpose to life and work. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of logotherapy on death anxiety and burnout among special wards nurses. Materials and Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study, which was performed on two groups of 20 special wards nurses in Amiralmomenin Ali Hospital in Zabol in 2018. The data collection tool included three questionnaires demographic information, Temple death anxiety and Maslach job burnout. Before the intervention, both groups completed the questionnaires and then a 5-session one-hour logotherapy test was performed twice a week. The questionnaires were completed again by the two groups after 20 days. Data analysis was carried out using Chi-square and T-test in SPSS ver. 22. Findings: Findings showed that the mean death anxiety scores in the experimental group after group logotherapy significantly decreased from 51.15 to 45.05 (p<0.05). Also, the mean burnout scores significantly decreased in the experimental group after group logotherapy training (56.45 to 42.15). The results also showed that there was a significant difference between the three areas of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and work engagement in the experimental group after group logotherapy (p<0.05), which indicates the effect of the logotherapy, but it was not effective in the dysfunction dimension (p>0.05). Conclusion: The results of the present study revealed that logotherapy reduces death anxiety and burnout among nurses, which can be used as a therapeutic method.