The Burnout and Professional Deformation of Latvian Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic at the Traumatology and Orthopaedics Hospital

Evija Nagle (), Olga Cerela-Boltunova, Solveiga Blumberga, Sandra Mihailova and Inguna Griskevica
Additional contact information
Evija Nagle: Department of Health Psychology and Pedagogy, Rīga Stradiņš University, LV-1009 Rīga, Latvia
Olga Cerela-Boltunova: Department of Health Psychology and Pedagogy, Rīga Stradiņš University, LV-1009 Rīga, Latvia
Solveiga Blumberga: Department of Business, RISEBA University of Applied Sciences, LV-1048 Rīga, Latvia
Sandra Mihailova: Department of Health Psychology and Pedagogy, Rīga Stradiņš University, LV-1009 Rīga, Latvia
Inguna Griskevica: Department of Health Psychology and Pedagogy, Rīga Stradiņš University, LV-1009 Rīga, Latvia

Social Sciences, 2023, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic is a global health crisis, which has created an additional burden on the healthcare system and has caused enormous stress and emotional burnout among healthcare workers (HCWs). The purpose of the study is to investigate the phenomena of emotional burnout and the professional deformation of HCWs. The emotional burnout phenomenon of the HCWs was studied using the Maslach Burnout Inventory–Human Services Survey. In addition, the Professional Deformation Survey, based on scientific literature and research works, was developed. The survey consisted of 4 subscales distinguishing: aggression, authoritarianism, demonstrativeness, and conservatism. The survey results showed a high level of emotional exhaustion, a medium level of depersonalization, and a low level of personal achievement reduction. The Professional Deformation Survey showed good reliability for the whole sample in all four subscales. Results of the professional deformation study revealed that 29% of respondents manifest aggression while performing their professional activities. Authoritarianism can be observed in 18% of respondents, demonstrativeness in—31%, and professional deformation manifested as conservatism in—22% of HCWs. Data obtained on burnout and the professional deformation of the HCWs proves that the healthcare system and health organizations have reason to be concerned about the mental well-being of HCWs and the quality of healthcare service provision.

Keywords: healthcare workers (HCWs); Burnout; professional deformation; COVID-19 pandemic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/12/3/175/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/12/3/175/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:12:y:2023:i:3:p:175-:d:1097186

Access Statistics for this article

Social Sciences is currently edited by Ms. Yvonne Chu

More articles in Social Sciences from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().