Burnout and Coping Styles among Frontline Healthcare Workers: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Healthcare professionals lead the healthcare services with their all resources of psychological as well physical to help the patients. However, the psychological well-being of these professionals is being affected by factors such as the lack of fixed working hours, prolonged standing, shift work and additional administrative tasks which they perform. Prolonged exposure adds to burnout in their work life. Objective: The objective of the present study was to examine burnout and coping styles among healthcare workers in India. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study, and participants who were working in the healthcare setup were contacted (N = 100).  They were assessed on the professional quality of life scale and the COPE scale. Result and Conclusion: Overall, a moderate level of burnout was reported (M = 21.98, SD = 3.13) among healthcare professionals. Also, problem-focused coping styles were observed among the participants, i.e., ‘planning coping’ (M = 13.22, SD = 1.63), ‘active coping’ (M = 12.90, SD = 1.53), and ‘suppression of competing activities’ (M = 11.02, SD = 1.89). a significant relationship was observed between burnout and coping styles (r = -.24, p<0.05). The findings suggest that burnout exists among healthcare professionals which needs to be taken care of with interventional strategies.