the influence o f psychological empowerment and gender roles on burnout was investigated. ninety-six nurses employed at long-term care facilities completed the personal attributes questionnaire (spence, helmreich, & stapp, 1974), spreitzer’s (1995) psychological empowerment scale, and the maslach burnout inventory - human services survey (maslach & jackson, 1996). no significant associations were observed between the perceived importance of empowerment factors and burnout. however, all participants’ current (on-the-job) perceptions of empowerment were significantly related to global burnout (rs = -.30 to -.54, ps < .001). empowerment disparity scores (perceived importance minus current perceptions) were even more strongly associated with burnout scores (rs = .34 to .60, ps < .001). dominance scores were significantly associated with personal accomplishment scores (i = .38, p < .001) and global burnout scores (r = -.25, p < .01). affiliation was only related to depersonalization scores (r = -.27, p < .01). finally, the influence o f gender role on the relationship between empowerment and burnout was examined using moderated regression analyses. dominance and affiliation moderated a number o f relationships, but the effects were modest (r2 changes < .052). these findings highlight the importance of psychological empowerment as a factor associated with burnout, and suggest that gender role might interact with empowerment.