Job burnout among Israeli healthcare workers during the first months of COVID-19 pandemic: The role of emotion regulation strategies and psychological distress

Abstract

The current worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has elicited widespread concerns and stress. Arguably, healthcare workers are especially vulnerable to experience burnout during these times due to the nature of their work. Indeed, high prevalence of burnout was found among healthcare workers during the outbreak. However, the individual differences predicting burnout among healthcare workers during the pandemic have been understudied. The aim of the current study was, therefore, to identify risk and protective factors contributing to the severity of burnout among healthcare workers, above and beyond levels of current psychological distress. The survey was distributed online during the period April 13–28, 2020, approximately two months after the first COVID-19 case was identified in Israel. Ninety-eight healthcare workers completed an online survey administered cross-sectionally via the Qualtrics platform that included questionnaires assessing habitual emotion regulation strategies (i.e., trait worry, reappraisal, and suppression), psychological distress, COVID-19 related concerns, and burnout. A hierarchical linear regression analysis revealed that only trait worry and psychological distress were significant predictors of job burnout among healthcare workers. These findings highlight the role of maladaptive emotion regulation tendencies, specifically trait worry, in job burnout among healthcare workers. These findings have implications for both the assessment and treatment of healthcare workers. We discuss potential mechanisms and implications for practice.

Burnout, Organizational Justice, Workload, and Emotional Regulation among Medical and Non-Medical Personnel Working in Romanian Healthcare Units

“…Facing a problem and having a positive attitude are not enough to prevent feelings of emotional exhaustion from being determined by overload. These results are consistent with those reported in other research, which has not demonstrated a link between the habitual use of reappraisal and levels of burnout [ 53 ]. In the case of nurses, workload produces its effects on emotional exhaustion not directly but indirectly, through organizational justice.…”

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of midwives

“…The current study found that almost half of the participants experienced moderate worries, and less than half had high worries. This result is consistent with the study by Khouri & Cohen (2020), conducted in Israel to examine the relationship between the tendency to worry related to COVID-19 and anxiety, depression, and stress among health and social services (Dwijayanti et al, 2022). The study reported that most of the participants had a moderate tendency to worry, and 10% had a high tendency to worry; the result revealed that the participants who had psychological distress experienced a greater risk of worry, mediated by job burnout.…”

Understanding the factors affecting teachers’ burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

“…Stressors resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. W used a 15-item questionnaire which is based on Main et al's [37] original questionnaire to measure stressors resulting from the SARS pandemic, and was adjusted by Khouri et al [19] for the COVID-19 pandemic. All items are scored on a 5-level rating scale, ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much).…”

“…For example, a study conducted among middle school teachers in Israel found that the high levels of stress during the pandemic were associated with increased burnout and desire to leave the profession [14]. Similarly, a cross-sectional study among healthcare workers found that trait worry and psychological distress significantly predicted work burnout during the pandemic [19]. Another cross-sectional study conducted during the first wave of the pandemic among 125 primary school teachers found that 54% of them experienced burnout [12].…”