Burnout and habits harmful to the health of employees in the Argentine federal prison service.

INTRODUCTION: Given that psychosocial risks may be sources of stress at work and also encourage the presence of burnout, members of state security services are likely to present high levels of this syndrome.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the prevalence and relationship between burnout and unhealthy habits amongst workers of the Argentine Federal Prison Service (SPF).

MATERIAL AND METHOD: An ex post-facto study was carried out with descriptive, cross-sectional, comparative and comparative analyses. We used the Spanish adaptations of the Maslach Burnout Inventory MBI-HSS (Maslach and Jackson, 1986), the Test For Nicotine Dependence (Fagerström, 1978) and the Body Mass Index in 151 prison officers (88 men and 63 women of 22 to 52 years).

RESULTS: The prevalence of burnout was 6.62%, while the results for dimensions were: smoking 37.09%, passive smoking 70.20%, overweight 45.03% and obesity 44.37%. The dimensions of burnout showed that differences between groups indicate a higher level of emotional exhaustion in treatment and treatment functions, passive smokers and those who consume less fruit and vegetables on a weekly basis. There was greater depersonalization in subjects that are currently smoking. There was lower personal fulfillment in obese people, passive smokers, current smokers, moderate level smokers, those who consume less fruit and vegetables every week and those with obesity.

DISCUSSION: Smoking and high body mass index and links with eating habits are factors that may negatively affect the health and wellbeing of prison officers in terms of personal accomplishment.