“It's Like a Kick in the Teeth”: The Emergence of Novel Predictors of Burnout in Frontline Workers During Covid-19

Abstract

The context of Covid-19 has offered an unusual cultural landscape for examining how workers view their own position relative to others, and how individuals respond to prolonged exposure to workplace stress across different sectors and cultures. Through our recent work tracking the well-being of frontline workers in the UK and Ireland (the CV19 Heroes project), we have uncovered additional psychological factors that have not been accounted for in previous models of occupational stress or burnout. In recent months, frontline workers have worked to protect the community from the threat of SARS-CoV-2 and, simultaneously, have evaluated their perceptions of collective efforts of others as either congruent or incongruent with collective goals (e.g., lowered mortality and morbidity): we call this novel aspect solidarity appraisal. These frontline workers have been hailed as heroes, which we argue has led to the creation of an implicit psychological contract (the hero contract) between frontline workers and the public. Here, the heroes are willing to “go above and beyond” for the greater good, with the expectation that we (the public) do our part by adhering to public health guidelines. Where frontline workers perceive incongruence between the words and actions of others in working toward collective goals this drives negative affect and subsequent burnout. In this perspective article, we evaluate the cultural context of the pandemic in the UK and Ireland and suggest important socio-cultural factors that contribute to perceptions of solidarity, and how this may relate to burnout and worker welfare during and beyond the pandemic context.

Solidarity appraisal, meaning, and markers of welfare in frontline workers in the UK and Ireland during the Covid-19 pandemic

“…Social exchange in the context of frontline workers during the pandemic typically involves symbolic or conceptual resources, such as effort, consideration, and support. We position this symbolic reciprocity as solidarity, and alongside it the process by which its presence is determined by those that require it, solidarity appraisal ( Sumner and Kinsella, 2021b ) .…”

“…2 The importance of solidarity across all sectors of frontline working first became apparent through qualitative explorations of frontline workers' experiences during the summer of 2020 ( Kinsella et al, 2021 ). Specifically, participants across all sectors (not limited to healthcare) often cited feeling that the government and the public were not working “with” them, most notably through representations in the media of pandemic denial, rule breaking, and inconsistency of messaging ( Kinsella et al, 2021 ; Sumner and Kinsella, 2021b ). Solidarity, in this sense, is distinct from social support, which is more typically defined as an individual having access to practical, tangible, or emotional support from others ( Cohen and Wills, 1985 ).…”

“…Meaning in life was shown to be an important predictor of welfare outcomes (resilience, burnout, and wellbeing) in the first surge of the pandemic ( Sumner and Kinsella, 2021a ). In subsequent qualitative work, frontline workers highlighted the impact that public and political actions, and rhetoric, were having on their sense of meaning in their lives and their work ( Kinsella et al, 2021 ; Sumner and Kinsella, 2021b ), potentially degrading this important protective factor. Taken together, this would suggest that potential impact on meaning can not only have a general impact on wellbeing, but may well be important in the context of working through the pandemic, where frontline workers are highly vulnerable to burnout and trauma ( Giorgi et al, 2020 ).…”

The Human Aspect of Horse Care: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Impacted the Wellbeing of Equestrian Industry Stakeholders

“…Clients acting out these frustrations by targeting veterinarians with manipulative or confrontational behaviour are likely to have had detrimental effects upon veterinary practice staff and veterinarians alike, who would then be forced to defend their profession's position on matters of equine health and welfare. Client mistrust resulted in a negative impact upon the mental wellbeing of veterinarians, and effects of a lack of solidarity from clientele are aptly described by Sumner and Kinsella [23]. This commentary explains how a lack of empathy and respect from those they are working to protect may lead front line workers to develop occupational stress and burnout, conditions with a pre-existing connection to the veterinary profession.…”

Burnout in COVID-19 era - a literature review

“…Importantly, in this context we have seen evidence that the wider socio-cultural environment plays a key role in employees' feelings of job satisfaction. One can surmise that these broader influences on burnout occur in many professions [5].…”