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ABSTRACTObjective:A high incidence of burnout has been reported in health professionals working in palliative care units. Our present study aims to determine whether there are differences in the secretion of salivary cortisol between palliative care unit health professionals with and without burnout, and to elucidate whether there is a relationship between burnout syndrome and perceived stress and psychopathological status in this population., Method: A total of 69 health professionals who met the inclusion criteria participated in our study, including physicians, nurses, and nursing assistants. Some 58 were women (M = 29.65 years, SD = 8.64) and 11 men (M = 35.67 years, SD = 11.90). The level of daily cortisol was registered in six measurements taken over the course of a workday. Burnout syndrome was evaluated with the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS), the level of perceived stress was measured using the Perceived Stress Scale, and psychopathological status was gauged using the SCL-90-R Symptoms Inventory., Results: There were statistically significant differences in secretion of cortisol in professionals with high scores on a single subscale of the MBI-HSS [F(3.5) = 2.48, p < 0.03]. This effect was observed 15-30 minutes after waking up (p < 0.01) and at bedtime (p < 0.06). Moreover, the professionals with burnout showed higher scores on the psychopathology and stress subscales than professionals without it., Significance of Results: A higher score in any dimension of the burnout syndrome in palliative care unit health professionals seems to be related to several physiological and psychological parameters. These findings may be relevant for further development of our understanding of the relationship between levels of burnout and cortisol secretion in the health workers in these units.

Currently, a considerable amount of work stress is present in school teachers, one of the occupational groups with the highest levels of job strain and burnout. As chronic stress produces significant modifications in emotional adjustment and neuroendocrine functioning, we aimed to investigate the role of these work stress constructs in the endocrine and mood responses of a group of female teachers during two working days (WD) at different moments in the academic year. We studied mood as well as levels of cortisol and testosterone, representative of a predominant catabolic or anabolic balance. Our results showed that higher "control" was associated with higher positive mood (p = .028 on WD1 and p = .057 on WD2) and salivary testosterone (Tsal) (p = .022 on WD1), whereas "demands" and "total job strain" were related to negative mood (p = .011 and p = .015, respectively). Participants with higher scores on "total burnout" and "emotional exhaustion" also had higher negative mood (p < .05 in all cases). Depersonalization correlated positively with negative mood (p = .019 and p = .006 on WD1 and WD2, respectively). Finally, personal accomplishment showed an inverse relationship with negative mood (p = .038 on WD2). These results are useful for job risk prevention and interventions that should focus on the control dimension of the job strain questionnaire and on personal accomplishment from the burnout scale.