The issue of burnout is receiving increasing research
attention. However, most of the literature on burnout has
focused on the nursing, physiotherapy and occupational therapy
professions, with very few studies within the podiatric profession
exploring this concept. The purpose of this paper is to compare
the degree of burnout among Maltese podiatrists working in two
different settings, namely the public health service and private
practice. A quantitative non-experimental study, involving a
convenience sample, was conducted. The Copenhagen Burnout
Inventory (CBI) was used to evaluate levels of burnout in the two
participant groups. No statistical difference was found between
the overall mean burnout scores for Maltese podiatrists employed
in the public health service and those working in private practice
(p = 0.067, mean = 48.89 vs 31.84). Although the level of
burnout did not differ between podiatrists working within the
two different settings, podiatrists working in the public sector
in general reported higher mean scores for each subscale of the
CBI than podiatrists working in private practice. More research
is necessary to build a better understanding of burnout among
podiatrists in parallel with other health care professionals, in
order to help prevent or alleviate this phenomenon.peer-reviewe
