Prevalence and factors associated with burnout among health professionals of a public hospital network during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Burnout is most commonly defined as a syndrome characterized by emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and ineffectiveness, which occurs in response to chronic stressors at work. It can adversely affect health workers’ physical and mental health, and the quality of care provided. The COVID-19 pandemic increased stressors and could impact burnout prevalence in this group. There is a lack of information regarding the prevalence of burnout among hospital health workers in Brazil. A newer definition of burnout has been proposed that considers three different clinical profiles: the frenetic, underchallenged and worn-out subtypes. This differentiation could lead to interventions tailored for each subtype. The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence of burnout, its subtypes, and associated factors in workers of a public hospital network in Brazil, during the pandemic. A total of 143 randomly selected participants answered an online form that included sociodemographic and occupational items, and the Burnout Clinical Subtypes Questionnaire, a summarized version. This questionnaire evaluates three burnout dimensions (overload, lack of development, neglect) that can be used to discriminate the three burnout subtypes (frenetic, underchallenged, worn-out, respectively); higher scores indicate higher burnout levels. The prevalence of burnout was high (53.85%), similar to other studies during the pandemic. The most common subtypes were ‘frenetic’ (34.97%), characterized by increased efforts to meet work demands, to the point of neglecting personal needs, and ‘lack of development’ (23.78%), characterized by a sense that work is uninteresting and does not contribute to personal development, and a perfunctory behavior towards tasks. Age was associated with burnout: workers with less than 51 years presented higher levels of burnout. These findings indicate the need for effective interventions to prevent and/or treat burnout. The assessment of burnout subtypes can allow managers to better understand the processes affecting employees, and inform actions to improve workforce health.