Prevalence of Workaholism Among Egyptian Healthcare Workers With Assessment of Its Relation to Quality of Life, Mental Health and Burnout

Abstract

Introduction: Work is a social double edged weapon activity that may have positive and negative effects on individual's quality of life and health.Objectives: To estimate workaholism prevalence and to determine its effects on quality of life, mental health, and burnout among healthcare workers (HCWs).Methods: Using a cross-sectional study, 1,080 Egyptian participants distributed as HCWs and non-HCWs were recruited. The study included 4 questionnaires to assess workaholism, quality of life (QoL), Psychological capital questionnaire (PCQ), and General health questionnaire (GHQ). Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was applied to critical specialty HCWs in addition to pro-inflammatory markers including Il6, TNFα, and CoQ10.Results: This study revealed that 24.4 and 24.8% of HCWs were workaholic and hardworking, respectively, in comparison to 5.9 and 28.1% among non-HCWs (P < 0.001). Somatic symptoms and anxiety/ insomnia domains of GHQ were higher among HCWs than non-HCWs (P < 0.001 and 0.002, respectively). QoL was significantly lower among HCWs than non-HCWs (P < 0.001). Workaholism was reported among 43.2% of HCWs with critical specialty (P < 0.001). Components of PCQ components were significantly higher among HCWs with critical specialty than non-critical HCWs while QoL showed the reverse (P < 0.05). Working excessively was a predictor to burnout [Emotional exhaustion (β = –0.23) and depersonalization (β = −0.25)] and TNFα (β = 0.41). Emotional exhaustion was a predictor to Il6 (β = 0.66), TNFα (β = 0.73), and CoQ10 (β = −0.78).Conclusion: There is a significant association between workaholism and psychologically poor-health and poor quality of life among HCWs. Critical specialty healthcare workers showed association between workaholism, burnout and pro-inflammatory markers. Addressing of personal characteristics, supporting factors in the work environment and periodic examination of the healthcare workers and responding accordingly is required.

Physical Exercise and Psychological Distress: The Mediating Roles of Problematic Mobile Phone Use and Learning Burnout among Adolescents

“…Burnout syndrome has been associated with mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, and stress [40], constructs that may be similar on a biological level [41]. Kasemy et al [70] found that emotional exhaustion is associated with some proinflammatory markers, including interleukin 6, TNFα, and coenzyme Q10, and inflammation is a key factor in the development of some mental health problems [71], including depression [72] and anxiety [73]. Our findings are consistent with the importance of learning burnout on psychological distress and suggest that learning burnout plays a crucial role in the association of physical exercise with psychological distress in adolescents.…”

Technostress Creators and Outcomes Among Egyptian Medical Staff and Students: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study of Remote Working Environment During COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Because of the diurnal difference in cortisol levels, blood samples were drawn at a specific time of day (6–10 am). We measured CoQ10 using an ELISA (Sino Gene Clon Biotech Co., Ltd) with cut-off ranges of 1.56 ng/ml, 1.56 ng/ml, and 50 ng/ml ( 19 ).…”

The Antecedents and Consequences of Workaholism: Findings From the Modern Japanese Labor Market

“…Lastly, regarding individual characteristics related to workaholism, self-esteem, recognition of strengths, resilience, work meaningfulness, psychological safety, and the Big Five have been discussed in relevant literature (e.g., Barrick and Mount, 1991 ; Burke et al, 2006 ; Graves et al, 2012 ; Clark et al, 2016 ; Gillet et al, 2017 ; Choi et al, 2020 ; Kasemy et al, 2020 ; Kun et al, 2020 ). As their corresponding measurements were available in the dataset we used, we considered the possibility of including them as control variable in our analyses.…”