Resilience, Mentalizing and Burnout Syndrome among Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Serbia

Teodora Safiye, Branimir Vukčević, Medo Gutić, Ardea Milidrag, Draško Dubljanin, Jakša Dubljanin and Branimir Radmanović
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Teodora Safiye: Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Svetozara Markovića 69, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia
Branimir Vukčević: High School of Culinary Arts and Tourism with Dormitory, Heroja Čajke 18, 36210 Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia
Medo Gutić: Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Svetozara Markovića 69, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia
Ardea Milidrag: Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Svetozara Markovića 69, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia
Draško Dubljanin: Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Svetozara Markovića 69, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia
Jakša Dubljanin: Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Svetozara Markovića 69, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia
Branimir Radmanović: Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Svetozara Markovića 69, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 11, 1-13

Abstract: The aim of this study was to examine whether the capacity for mentalizing and resilience among healthcare workers (HCWs) explains the degree of burnout syndrome during the COVID-19 pandemic in Serbia. The research was conducted on a sample of 406 healthcare workers (141 doctors and 265 nurses), aged 19 to 65 years (M = 40.11, SD = 9.41)—203 worked on the COVID-19 frontline, and 203 in regular clinical conditions. The Maslach Burnout Inventory was used to measure the burnout syndrome. Capacity for mentalizing was examined using the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire. The Brief Resilience Scale was used to measure resilience. The results indicated that there were negative correlations between resilience and the dimensions of burnout—emotional exhaustion (r = −0.38; p < 0.01) and depersonalization (r = −0.11; p < 0.05), and a positive correlation between resilience and personal accomplishment (r = 0.27; p < 0.01), as was expected. The analyses of hierarchical linear regression showed that hypomentalizing was a significant positive predictor of emotional exhaustion (ß = 0.12; p < 005) and depersonalization (ß = 0.15; p < 0.05), resilience was a significant negative predictor of emotional exhaustion (ß = −0.28, p < 0.01) and positive predictor of personal accomplishment (ß = 0.20; p < 0.01), and that the degree of explained variance of burnout dimensions was higher when resilience and hypomentalizing were included in regression models, in addition to sociodemographic variables. The findings suggest that being a woman and working on the COVID-19 frontline implies a higher burnout, while the level of burnout decreases with better socioeconomic status and more children. Resilience, capacity for mentalizing, and burnout syndrome among HCWs are interrelated phenomena, which have important professional implications.

Keywords: burnout syndrome; mental health; COVID-19 frontline; mentalizing; doctors; nurses; emotional exhaustion; hypomentalizing; hypermentalizing; Serbia (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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