Burnout among healthcare providers: Its prevalence and association with anxiety and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic in Macao, China

Abstract

Introduction Burnout in healthcare providers (HPs) might lead to negative consequences at personal, patient-care and healthcare system levels especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of burnout and the contributing variables, and to explore how, from health workforce management perspective, HPs’ experiences related to carrying out COVID-19 duties would be associated with their burnout. Methods A cross-sectional, open online survey, informed by physical and psychological attributes reportedly related to burnout, the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), was completed by HPs in Macau, China during October and December 2021. Factors associated with burnout were analysed using multiple logistic regressions. Results Among the 498 valid responses, the participants included doctors (37.5%), nurses (27.1%), medical laboratory technologist (11.4%) and pharmacy professionals (10.8%), with the majority being female (66.1%), aged between 25-44years (66.0%), and participated in the COVID-19 duties (82.9%). High levels of burnout (personal (60.4%), work-related (50.6%) and client-related (31.5%)), anxiety (60.6%), and depression (63.4%) were identified. Anxiety and depression remained significantly and positively associated with all types of burnout after controlling for the strong effects of demographic and work factors (e.g. working in the public sector or hospital, or having COVID-19 duties). HPs participated in COVID-19 duties were more vulnerable to burnout than their counterparts and were mostly dissatisfied with the accessibility of psychological support at workplace (62.6%), workforce distribution for COVID-19 duties (50.0%), ability to rest and recover (46.2%), and remuneration (44.7%), all of which were associated with the occurrence of burnout. Conclusions Personal, professional and health management factors were found attributable to the burnout experienced by HPs during the COVID-19 pandemic, requiring actions from individual and organizational level. Longitudinal studies are needed to monitor the trend of burnout and to inform effective strategies of this occupational phenomenon.

Prevalence of depression and associated factors among obstetric care providers at public health facilities in the West Arsi Zone, Ethiopia: Cross-sectional study

“…Lastly, burnout is a factor that is significantly associated with depression. This is supported by the studies conducted in Southeastern Anatolia from Diyarbakir, Turkey [ 4 ] and in Macao, China [ 41 ]. This might be due to a person who has burnout feeling as though “it’s never enough” and then might start to feel hopeless or lack all emotion in his or her job and be prone to depression.…”

Assessment of psychological and physical stressors among nurses in different functional areas before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

“…The timing of the collection of questionnaire responses when the COVID-19 pandemic was under control in Germany might have influenced the results of the present study. However, against the background of persistently high burnout rates in times of low COVID-19 incidence rates [ 28 ], this seems to be a negligible factor.…”

“…The identification of nurses at risk and functional coping strategies can enhance nurses’ professional quality of life [ 27 ], which requires readiness for intervention by policy makers, hospital facilities, and individuals [ 28 ]. However, individualized coping strategies tailored to the specific needs of nurses are difficult to implement, as few studies have elucidated the physical and emotional stress characteristics of nurses in functional areas other than critical care and emergency nursing.…”

Burnout Levels in Nurses and Associated Factors during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The Link Burnout Questionnaire (LBQ) [16,17] and the Socio-Demographic Questionnaire (SDQ) were used in the presented project. The LBQ is designed to measure occupational burnout in people working in professions related to helping other people and teaching using four subscales (six items each): (1) psychophysical exhaustion (the dimension concerning the assessment of one's own psychophysical resources, questions 1, 7, 10, 16, 22, 24); (2) deterioration of relationships with users (dimension describing the quality of relationships with patients, questions 3, 5, 12, 14, 18, 23); (3) job ineffectiveness (dimension referring to the assessment of one's own professional competences, questions 2,8,11,13,17,20); and (4) disappointment (dimension of existential expectations, questions 4,6,9,15,19,21). The method of providing answers is based on a 6-point Likert scale, the individual points of which correspond to the following categories: never-1 point; rarely-2 points; once or more times a month-3 points; more or less every week-4 points; several times a week-5 points; and every day-6 points.…”

“…Nurse burnout was an important public health issue even before the outbreak of the pandemic. Moreover, studies have observed that ongoing viral epidemics, including COVID-19, have a negative impact and exacerbate the problem [11][12][13][14][15]. Professional burnout is a response to chronic fatigue and stressors at work.…”