Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the risk to nurses’ mental health has increased rapidly. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of depression and burnout and to evaluate their possible association with the sense of coherence in nursing staff during the pandemic crisis. The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory questionnaire, Beck’s Depression Inventory, and the Sense of Coherence questionnaire were completed by 101 male and 559 female nurses. Individual and demographic data were recorded. Regarding depression, 25.5% of respondents exhibited mild depression, 13.5% moderate depression and 7.6% severe depression. In the burnout scale, 47.1% had a pathological value. Female nurses had higher burnout (t test p < 0.01, 49.03 vs. 38.74) and depression (t test p < 0.01, 11.29 vs. 6.93) scores compared to men and lower levels in the sense of coherence (p < 0.05, 59.45 vs. 65.13). Regression evidenced that 43.7% of the variation in the BDI rating was explained by the CBI, while an additional 8.3% was explained by the sense of coherence. Mediation analysis indicated a partial mediation of burnout in the correlation between sense of coherence and depression. The sense of coherence acted as a negative regulator between burnout and depression.
Highlights
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the risk to nurses’ mental health increased rapidly [1,2,3]
Burnout refers to an occupational syndrome associated with emotional and cognitive changes, including emotional exhaustion, depersonalization or cynicism, and diminished feelings of personal effectiveness resulting from chronic work stress [7]
There is disagreement whether there is an overlap between burnout and depression
Summary
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the risk to nurses’ mental health increased rapidly [1,2,3]. The pressure of a professional and social life, along with the occupational hazards associated with exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, lead to increased physical and mental fatigue, as well as to burnout [4,5,6]. Researchers have argued that since studies have consistently found average to high correlation between depression and burnout, this may indicate overlap, and that burnout may not be a separate psychological phenomenon but a dimension of depression [12]. Researchers [15,16] argue that an important factor that seems to distinguish burnout from depression is the fact that burnout is work-related, while depression is unconfined and pervasive. Burnout is related to one’s work environment, while depression can occur regardless of environmental conditions (e.g., social or family environment). A recent meta-analysis suggests that burnout and depression are linked, the magnitude of their relationship is not strong enough to suggest that they are parts of the same construct [17]
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