The Role of Moral Distress on Physician Burnout during COVID-19

Caitlin A. J. Powell and John P. Butler
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Caitlin A. J. Powell: Department of Psychology, Thomas More University, Crestview Hills, KY 41017, USA
John P. Butler: Department of Behavioral and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 10, 1-10

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the role of moral distress on physician burnout during COVID-19. Physicians in the US were interviewed between February and March 2021; 479 responded to our survey. The results indicated that moral distress was a key mediator in explaining the relationship between perceived organizational support, medical specialization, emotional labor, and coping with burnout. Results did not support increased burnout among female physicians, and contracting COVID-19 likewise did not play a role in burnout. Our findings suggest that physician burnout can be mitigated by increasing perceived organizational support; likewise, physicians who engaged in deep emotional labor and problem-focused coping tended to fare better when it came to feelings of moral distress and subsequent burnout.

Keywords: burnout; moral distress; COVID-19; perceived organizational support (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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