Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global health threat and has placed an extraordinary demand on healthcare workers around the world. In this study, we aim to examine the prevalence of burnout and its associated factors and experience among Malaysian healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic through an embedded mixed-method study design. We found that more than half of Malaysian healthcare workers in this sample experienced burnout. Direct involvement in COVID-19 screening or treatment, having a medical condition, and less psychological support in the workplace emerged to be the significant factors in personal-, work-, and patient-related burnout. Participants described their workloads, uncertainties caused by the pandemic, challenging work–family balance, and stretched workplace relationships as the sources of burnout. Exhaustion appeared to be the major symptom, and many participants utilized problem-focused coping to deal with the adversities experienced during the pandemic. Participants reported physical-, occupational-, psychological-, and social-related negative impacts resulting from burnout. As the pandemic trajectory is yet unknown, these findings provide early insight and guidance for possible interventions.
Highlights
In late December 2019, an increasing number of patients with pneumonia of an unknown etiology were seen in Wuhan, China
The majority of the participants worked in government hospitals, had indirect involvement with COVID-19 patients, worked 60 h or more weekly, were aged less than 40 years old, married, had children, had adequate childcare support at home, had no medical conditions, perceived that they received adequate psychological support at work, and practiced a regular spiritual routine
We found that inadequate self-perceived psychosocial support at work, long hours, direct involvement with COVID19, inadequate childcare support at home, medical conditions, younger age, being single, having no children, and irregular spirituality routines were significantly associated with all dimensions of burnout
Summary
In late December 2019, an increasing number of patients with pneumonia of an unknown etiology were seen in Wuhan, China. The causative virus was later identified as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and this novel pneumonia is called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) [1]. It immediately became a global public health threat due to its strong infectivity, even in the incubation period [2]. In the COVID-19 pandemic, studies have shown higher anxiety levels among Chinese HCW as compared to the general population [8,9,10]. Another study revealed that 64.7%, 51.6%, and 41.2% of Turkish HCW displayed symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress, respectively [12]
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