Burnout and Mental Health of COVID-19 Frontline Healthcare Workers: Results from an Online Survey

Mohammad Babamiri; Saeid Bashirian; Salman Khazaei; Mohammad  Sadegh Sohrabi; Rashid Heidarimoghadam; Alireza Mortezapoor; Sepide Zareian

doi:10.18502/ijps.v17i2.8903

Mohammad Babamiri Department of Ergonomics, Research Center for Health Sciences, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
Saeid Bashirian Department of Public Health, School of Health, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
Salman Khazaei Research Center for Health Sciences, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
Mohammad Sadegh Sohrabi Department of Ergonomics, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
Rashid Heidarimoghadam Department of Ergonomics, Research Center for Health Sciences, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
Alireza Mortezapoor Department of Ergonomics, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
Sepide Zareian Research Center for Health Sciences, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/ijps.v17i2.8903

Keywords: Burnout; COVID-19; Healthcare; Mental Health

Abstract

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has been prolonged and healthcare workers have become exhausted. The purpose of this study was to investigate burnout and its relationship with mental health in COVID-19 frontline healthcare workers.

Method: This cross-sectional study was carried out in all hospitals where patients with COVID-19 were admitted in Hamedan, Iran. With the census method and considering the inclusion criteria, 924 COVID-19 frontline healthcare workers participated in this study. Data were collected using a web-based survey consisting of demographic characteristics, GHQ-28, and Maslach Burnout Inventory. Statistical analysis was performed using Stata 14.

Results: The results showed that the main cause of concern and stress in employees was that it was not clear how long this situation would continue. The results regarding burnout and mental health showed that 29.33% of participants were high in emotional exhaustion (EE), 10.93% were high in depersonalization (DP), 34.31% were low in personal accomplishment (PA), 50.4% had physical symptoms, 50.2% had anxiety and insomnia symptoms, 62.2% had social dysfunction and 17.5% had depression symptoms. The results of the multivariate logistic regression showed that EE had the greatest role in reducing mental health of employees with OR = 6.92 for moderate EE and OR = 39.42 for high EE (P < 0.001).

Conclusion: COVID-19 frontline healthcare workers are at risk for burnout and poor mental health. Health policies should be implemented to help reduce burnout in healthcare workers. Also, person-directed and organizational-directed interventions to rejuvenate these employees seem necessary.