Prevalence of Burnout in Portuguese Public Health Medical Residents amid the Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: Burnout is a psychological syndrome characterized by a state of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a lack of personal accomplishment at the workplace. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of burnout among Portuguese Public Health Medical Residents during the SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic. Methods: Burnout was assessed with the Maslach Burnout Inventory – Human Services Survey, using a zero (never) to six (always) ordinal scale. Sociodemographic and workplace setting data were also collected. Categorical variables were presented as frequencies and percentages, and continuous variables as means and standard deviations (SDs). Chi-squared and independent sample t tests were used to evaluate the distributions of these variables, with a p value of 0.05. Results: Eighty-three people participated. The average age was 30.46 (±3.91), and 57.8% were female. We found that 77.11% had high levels of emotional exhaustion, 61.4% had high levels of depersonalization, and 44.6% had low levels of personal accomplishment. 32.5% of the participants were experiencing burnout, 30.5% were at high risk, 25.3% were at moderate risk, and 12% were at low risk. Burned-out participants had higher levels of emotional exhaustion (40.63 ± 7.36; mean ± SD) and depersonalization (15.63 ± 5.94; mean ± SD), and lower levels of personal achievement (29.42 ± 7.30; mean ± SD) than their peers. Regarding sociodemographic and work setting-related data, no statistically significant differences were found between professionals with and with no burnout. Conclusion: The present study shows high scores on all components of burnout and its prevalence among the population studied. Further studies are needed to determine whether this phenomenon was specific to this period.