Burnout Contagion Among General Practitioners

Abstract

This study used a representative sample of 507 general practitioners (GPs) to test the hypothesis that burnout is contagious. Following a two-dimensional conceptualization of burnout, it is assumed that burnout is comprised of emotional exhaustion and negative attitudes (i.e., depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment). We hypothesized that perceived burnout complaints among colleagues and susceptibility to emotional contagion would make an independent contribution to explaining variance in negative attitudes through their influence on emotional exhaustion. The findings of a series of LISREL-analyses support this burnout contagion model. In addition, susceptibility to the emotions expressed by others had a moderating effect on the relationship between perceived burnout complaints among colleagues and individual GPs' emotional exhaustion: Burnout contagion was most pronounced among those GPs who were, in general, highly susceptible to emotional stimuli. These findings, as well as possible routes to burnout contagion are discussed in terms of recent theoretical work on emotional contagion."Miss Jones gradually became more discouraged, so that by the end of the first week she was sharing the feelings and attitudes of the other staff members and functioning in the same ineffective way"

The crossover of burnout and work engagement among working couples

“…The recent review of Westman (2001) documents the accumulating evidence for this psychological phenomenon. More specifically, researchers have shown that the following strains may crossover from one person to another: anxiety (Westman et al, 2004a), burnout (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2000;Bakker et al, 2001Bakker et al, , 2003bPavett, 1986;Westman & Etzion, 1995, depression (Katz et al, 1999;Vinokur et al, 1996;Westman & Vinokur, 1998), dissatisfaction (Westman et al, 2004b), and physical health (Jones & Fletcher, 1993). Note that the majority of these studies investigated the crossover of negative emotions and attitudes.…”

Engaging Our Workforce: How Job Demands and Resources Contribute to Social Worker Burnout, Engagement and Intent to Leave

“…Research conducted by Abraham (2000) found that cynicism is positively associated with bumout and alienation, and negatively correlated with organizational commitment. Current research indicates that organizational cynicism, bumout, and engagement can be transmitted to coworkers, service recipients and spouses (Bakker, 2005;Bakker, Schaufeli, Sixma, & Bosveld, 2001;Lewandowski, 2003).…”

The crossover of perceived health between spouses.

“…Most studies have investigated the crossover of psychological strains, such as anxiety (Westman, Etzion, & Horovitz, 2004a), burnout (e.g., Bakker & Schaufeli, 2000), distress (Barnett et al, 1995), depression (Howe, Levy, & Caplan, 2004), adjustment (Takeuchi, Yun, & Teslu, 2002), and marital dissatisfaction (Westman, Vinokur, Hamilton, & Roziner, 2004b). An exception is a study that included both physical and mental health complaints (GorgievskiDuijvesteijin, Giesen, & Bakker, 2000).…”