Research Article Influence of Spirituality on Cool Down Reactions, Work Engagement, and Life Satisfaction in Anthroposophic Health Care Professionals

Copyright © Arndt Büssing et al.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative CommonsAttribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This study aimed to analyse whether spirituality is a resource for health care professionals to deal with increasing stress and work burden, specifically to analyse associations between “cool down reactions ” (which describe an emotional distancing towards patients and/or reduced engagement as a strategy to protect their own functionality), work burden, and life satisfaction. We specifically focussed on anthroposophic health care professionals because of their unique approach to distinct aspects of spirituality. In a cross-sectional survey using standardized questionnaires, 489 personswere enrolled (66%women,mean age 53 ± 10 years, 41%physicians, 12 % nurses, and 47 % other health care professionals). They scored very high on all measures of spirituality and moderate to low with respect to “cool down reactions. ” Significant predictors of “cool down reactions ” were low work vigor, perceived work burden, alcohol consumption, low life satisfaction, and religious orientation