Change in smoking behavior and burnout syndrome among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

management of patients' smoking habit as it may limit HCPs' ability to intervene with their patients 2 .In recent years, HCPs are also faced with another phenomenon, Burnout Syndrome (BS). BS was first described in 1974 by Herbert Freudenberger as the response to longterm stress due to adverse conditions at work 4 . Today, BS is included in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as an occupational phenomenon (not a disease) and a syndrome resulting from chronic stress created in the workplace, which is not adequately treated 5 . BS is more common in physicians than ABSTRACT INTRODUCTIONThe smoking behavior of healthcare professionals (HCPs) probably affects their interventions to their patients. The present study assessed the change in HCPs' conventional cigarette smoking behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic and the presence of Burnout Syndrome (BS). METHODS A descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out in Greece during the spring of 2022, based on a sample of 278 HCPs, through an electronic questionnaire which was promoted to HCPs profiles in social media via snowball sampling and also to the members of the city of Kozani's Medical Association via email. Questions related to smoking habit were combined with the Fagerström test for nicotine dependence (FTND) scale and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI). Burnout was regressed against smoking characteristics and nicotine dependence. RESULTS Overall, 278 HCPs participated. Almost three-quarters (71.6%) were women, the average age of all participants was 42 years, 48.6% were PhD/MSc holders, 53.6% were physicians, and 80.2% believed that smokers would manifest a severe form of COVID-19. The study revealed a significant decrease in smokers in the current period (60.1% to 43.2%, p<0.001) and low degree of dependence. Moderate/low levels of BS, with Personal Burnout having higher mean levels (p<0.001), were found. Personal Burnout was associated with being a physician (β=5.62, p=0.038), financial difficulties (β=4.87, p=0.015) and the public sector (β= -7.24, p=0.005). Work-related Burnout was associated with younger ages (β= -0.45, p=0.039), more years of work (β=2.56, p=0.050) and the public sector (β= -6.20, p=0.011). There was a significantly smaller reduction in smokers among those experiencing high/ severe Work-related Burnout. CONCLUSIONS A significant reduction in the smoking habit of HCPs was found. Reduction was significantly smaller among those experiencing high/ severe Work-related Burnout. Current smoking habit and nicotine dependence did not have a significant correlation with any of the three forms of burnout, while being a physician, years of work, and working in the public sector were associated with higher Personal or Work-related Burnout.

Βurnout among primary healthcare professionals during COVID-19 pandemic: A need for timely identification strategies to increase the resilience of the Greek health system

“…A possible explanation may be the imbalance in the relationship between work effort and the reward for job performance, which has been linked to negative health outcomes, including mental health manifestations like depression 3,7 . This is not unexpected, as PHC in Greece was understaffed even before the COVID-19 pandemic and PHC practitioners struggled to address their augmented duties and new tasks to high workloads [33][34][35][36] . In fact, about 65% of the participants expressed the concern about an imminent shortage of staff and this concern was also linked to clinical burnout.…”