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. 2022 Aug 5:10:926328.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.926328. eCollection 2022.

Burnout, psychopathology and purpose in life in healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic

Marcelo O'Higgins  1 , Luz Angela Rojas  2 , Iván Echeverria  3   4 , Lorena Roselló-Jiménez  5 , Ana Benito  4   6 , Gonzalo Haro  3   4
Affiliations

Burnout, psychopathology and purpose in life in healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic

Marcelo O'Higgins et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant increase in the workload of healthcare workers that, together with the risks associated with exposure to this new virus, has affected their mental health.

Objectives: The objective of the current study was to determine the prevalence of psychopathology and burnout syndrome in healthcare workers and the predictive role of purpose in life and moral courage in this relationship.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 115 Spanish healthcare workers.

Results: Participants with burnout had higher anxiety (p = 0.001), depression (p < 0.001), post-traumatic stress (p = 0.01) and alcohol consumption (p = 0.03) levels. The different components of burnout (emotional fatigue and despersonalization) were associated with the occurrence of anxiety (OR = 0.31) and depression (OR = 0.26), respectively. A strong purpose in life decreased emotional fatigue (OR = -0.39) depersonalization (OR = -0.23) scores, increased personal accomplishment (OR = 0.52), subsequently reducing burnout levels (OR = -0.45).

Conclusions: Purpose in life was most strongly related to decreased levels of burnout. Furthermore, an association between anxiety, depression and the components of burnout was found.

Keywords: COVID-19; acute stress; anxiety; burnout; depression; healthcare workers; psychopathology; purpose in life.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The reviewer IG-M declared a shared affiliation, though no other collaboration, with one of the authors LR-J to the handling Editor.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Exploratory models of psychopathology in healthcare workers.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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