Background: Professional burnout results from prolonged exposure to chronic, job-related stressors. According to Christina Maslach, professional burnout is a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. Literature includes a number of reports on burnout syndrome within health service, but hardly ever do they make any references to physiotherapists. The purpose of this study is assessment of the level of professional burnout in a group of physiotherapists and investigating relationships between the indices of burnout syndrome and selected demographic as well as organizational variables. Material and Methods: The study group consisted of 151 physiotherapists with at least 3 years of experience, employed in various health service outposts in Krakow, Poland. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was used to measure emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment. A questionnaire for the description of socio-demographic and work characteristics was used as well. Results: Job burnout among the physiotherapists was manifested by an increased emotional exhaustion and decreased sense of personal achievement. Emotional exhaustion was significantly higher among physical therapists working with adults and employed in hospitals, depersonalization was higher among men, hospital workers and employees with seniority from 15 to 19 years, personal accomplishment was decreased among men and less-educated therapists. Conclusions:The study confirmed that indicators of burnout in physiotherapists are significantly associated with selected demographic and organizational variables. It is necessary to undertake a more exhaustive study of burnout in this group of employees, and implement elements of prevention. Med Pr 2014;65(4): [453][454][455][456][457][458][459][460][461][462]

On the basis of psychiatric interviews with 69 former prisoners of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, this paper describes the circumstances, motives, and ways of committing suicide in the camp. The interview made it clear that thousands of prisoners perished by suicide. The number of committed suicides was larger than that of attempted suicides. The most frequent types of suicide victims were prisoners of Jewish descent, foreigners, white-collar workers, and old people. The most common motives of suicides were depressive reactions; anxiety; somatic illnesses; the threat of death; emotional motives; loss of emotional support; beatings and tortures; and patriotic and altruistic motives. The most common methods of committing suicide were flinging oneself onto the electrified wires surrounding the camp, hanging, poisoning, cutting one's veins, and drowning. There were also cases of mass suicides, chiefly in the women's camp. Suicides committed from patriotic or altruistic motives testified to the fact that human beings were able to preserve their dignity even in the face of death.

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W artykule przedstawiona została, w wielowymiarowej perspektywie, sylwetka Ignacego Domeyki. Wykorzystując bogate źródła bibliograficzne i epistolograficzne, w tym listy Domeyki oraz jego pamiętniki, a także liczne publikacje polskie i chilijskie autor artykułu kreśli portret zasłużonego naukowca prezentując jego osobowość, zainteresowania, życie psychiczne i duchowe, główne troski, z jakimi się zmagał w ciągu życia. Przyjęcie metody introspekcyjnej pozwoliło zarysować portret psychologiczny Domeyki w świetle jego własnych przemyśleń, odczuć i słów.