Burnout among public health workers during the COVID-19 response: Results from a follow-up survey

Sarah Elizabeth Scales, Kristina W Kintziger, Kahler W Stone, Meredith A Jagger and Jennifer A Horney

PLOS Mental Health, 2024, vol. 1, issue 3, 1-10

Abstract: The public health workforce began the response to the COVID-19 pandemic with a critical workforce deficit, losing 20% of staff between 2018 and 2019. This study assesses changes in burnout among a cohort of 80 public health workers in the U.S. who completed multiple assessments during the ongoing COVID-19 response via Qualtrics. Self-reported burnout was assessed using a 5-point, validated, non-proprietary single-item measure. A binary burnout variable (1,2 = No; 3,4,5 = Yes) was created based on responses. Burnout direction (e.g., decreased, same, increased) was derived from changes in five-level work-related burnout scores. Factors indicating work-related exhaustion was higher among individuals reporting burnout in the follow-up survey compared to those without burnout. Baseline burnout, hours worked per week, and sleep quality were significant predictors of burnout at follow-up. A higher proportion of respondents reported burnout at follow-up than at the baseline survey. The ubiquitous nature of burnout among public health workers is a threat to the wellbeing of individuals in the workforce and the population’s health at large. Investments in expanding and supporting the public health workforce are needed.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/mentalhealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmen.0000100 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/mentalhealth/article/fil ... 00100&type=printable (application/pdf)

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:plo:pmen00:0000100

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmen.0000100

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS Mental Health from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by mentalhealth ().