Influence of Work Environment Factors on Burnout Syndrome Among Freelancers

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

You have conducted research on burnout and work environment impacts in freelance occupations. From the perspective of occupational epidemiology, I think that research on mental health and influencing factors for various occupations is meaningful, and I think the content of the research is worthy of publication in this journal. I think the structure of the paper is well organized overall. However, the following revisions and supplements are needed to publish the paper in this journal.

. The introduction section is too long. Please organize the introduction around the importance and necessity of the research, trends in previous research, and research objectives to greatly reduce the length.

. It would be a good idea to move the contents corresponding to 1.1 to 1.3 of the introduction to the discussion section and explain them.

. Table 2 is the content that should be shown in the Results section. Please move both Table 2 and the corresponding explanation to the Results section.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript. Please find the detailed responses below and the corresponding revisions/corrections highlighted in the re-submitted files. 

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I believe this is an excellent study with clearly defined research significance, objectives, and hypotheses. Thank you for this opportunity.

However, please consider the following.

Abstract

The abstract should be a single paragraph and should follow the style of structured abstracts, but without headings. Please delete the headings.

Page 5 “Sub-hypotheses”

The text for “Sub-hypotheses” is redundant. I think it can be edited as follows. For your reference.

In this regard, the following sub-hypotheses were developed (Fig. 1):

H2.1: There is an inverse relationship between poor communication and burnout levels.

H2.2: Tighter deadlines indicate high stress.

H2.3: High competition shows high burnout levels.

H2.4: Uncertain monthly income levels indicate high burnout levels.

H2.5: The requirement for creativity levels indicates high burnout levels.

 

Line 263:

The expression “Work stress assessment method Burnout-Q” is not appropriate because “Work stress” does not equal “Burnout.”

Table 1:

There is space available, so instead of using the abbreviations EE, DP, and RPA, please write out the full terms: Emotional exhaustion, Depersonalization, and Reduced personal accomplishment. This will make the results in the table easier for readers to understand.

Line 293: 2.2.2. Work environment factors

There is no mention of how the “Work environment factors questionnaire” is scored or the reliability and validity of this scale. Please describe this information.

 

Please create “2.3. Statistical Analysis” section, and describe the statistical methods used in Tables 1–5 and Figure 2.

 

Table 2

Please explain what HR means. There is space on the left side; thus, there is no need to use an abbreviation.

 

3. Results

The results section contains a mixture of results and discussion. In the results section, please state the results concisely. Move the discussion section with references to the discussion section. This will improve the quality of the research paper.

The statistical analysis methods are described in the “2.3. Statistical Analysis” section. Thus, there is no need to repeat them in the results.

Table 3

Please provide a correlation between burnout levels (including emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment) and each variable, as indicated in the sub-hypothesis.

Burnout levels consist of Emotional exhaustion, Depersonalization, and Reduced personal accomplishment. Why was the correlation with Reduced personal accomplishment not calculated?

The results in Table 3 only allow us to determine whether or not there was a correlation.

If authors wish to mention effect size, first state in the statistical methods section whether the sample size was sufficient for analyzing Pearson's linear correlation coefficient, and then describe the results.

In addition, please reconsider redundant expressions in the results.

Line 374: “r(1138) = 0.178, p < 0.01, and r(1138) = –0.201, p < 0.01.”

What does (1138) mean in this sentence?

Figure 2

Please improve the figure to clarify its meaning is clear.

It is necessary to find another sentence explaining the meanings of DP, EE, and the F1–F9 mean. It is difficult to understand.

Also, what do the "factors" referred to here mean?

Line 384: Based on the CFA results, the model fit is considered to be low.

Considering the hypotheses set, it is necessary to analyze the following relationships using CFA.

I believe it is necessary to illustrate/analyze the relationship between [poor communication, tighter deadlines/high stress, high competition, uncertain monthly income levels, levels show high] and burnout levels (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, reduced personal accomplishment) using CFA.

The same applies to correlation analysis.

Is there no standard error value for F1 [Insecure monthly income] in Table 5?

Additionally, please provide the Z- and P-values in Table 5. Furthermore, why are the values for Reduced personal accomplishment missing in Table 5?

 

Finally, there are many parts of the English text in which the same points are repeated.

I believe that specialized proofreading for scientific papers is necessary.

I hope this is helpful.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

There are many parts of the English text in which the same points are repeated.

I believe that specialized proofreading for scientific papers is necessary.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer, 

Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript. Please find the detailed responses below and the corresponding revisions/corrections highlighted in the re-submitted files. 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Accept

Author Response

Thank you very much for the positive review!

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Thank you for making the corrections based on the peer review opinion.

Please review the following abbreviations and note it where they first appear.
Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA):
The abbreviation "CFA" is used in line 261, but it is used several times in the following sentences. Please search, check, and correct as necessary. 
Lines 277–278: "Root Mean Square Error of Approximation" (RMSEA), "Comparative Fit Index" (CFI), and "Goodness-of-Fit Index" (GFI).
These abbreviations are already used in line 263.
Please check and correct them.

When you use proofreading service, please have a professional correct the tense of the sentence.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

When you use proofreading service, please have a professional correct the tense of the sentence.

Author Response

Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript. Please find the detailed responses below and the corresponding revisions/corrections highlighted/in track changes in the re-submitted files.

Comments 1: Review the following abbreviations and note where they first appear. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA): The abbreviation "CFA" is used on line 261, but is used several times in the following sentences. Please search, check, and correct as necessary. Lines 277–278: "Root Mean Square Error of Approximation" (RMSEA), "Comparative Fit Index" (CFI), and "Goodness of Fit Index" (GFI). These abbreviations are already used on line 263. Please check and correct them.
Response 1: In accordance with the requirements, we reviewed the abbreviations and noted their first occurrence in the text. Accordingly, we left only the abbreviations in the following sentences of the manuscript. Lines: 411; 418-420
4. Response to Comments on the Quality of English Language
Point 1: When using a proofreading service, please ask a professional to correct the sentence tense. Response: We will forward the recommendation to the proofreading service.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf