Role of sociodemographic and occupational factors in emotional distress and burnout of health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic

Relevance. Risk factors of emotional distress in medical professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic should be identified for development of the effective system for prevention of mental disorders and emotional burnout.

Intention. Investigation of factors related to the severity of distress and emotional burnout in medical professionals during the pandemic of new coronavirus infection.

Methodology. The online cross-sectional study, conducted from August 2020 to April 2021 involved 359 medical workers (doctors of various specialties – 172, nurses – 134, medical psychologists – 40, nurses – 3, medical workers who did not indicate their profession – 10). The following methods were used: semi-structured interview; K. Maslach Professional Burnout Inventory adapted by N.E. Vodopyanova and E.S. Starchenkova; visual analogue scales specially designed for this study. Statistical processing of the data included dispersion analysis; the Kraskel–Wallis method; Mann–Whitney U-test; t-test; Spearman correlation coefficients.

Results and Discussion. In the general sample of medical professionals, a high level of emotional burnout was identified. The most severe emotional distress, exhaustion and depersonalization were found in doctors compared to nurses and psychologists. The “Subjective feeling of high risk of COVID-19 infection” acts as a core characteristic associated with various manifestations of emotional distress and burnout in medical professionals and can be considered as a central indicator of distress severity. The characteristics of the professional activities, age, level of education and workload, as well as the nature of family relations are related to the severity of manifestations of emotional distress and burnout during the pandemic period and should be taken into account when creating programs to provide psychological assistance to medical personnel. Severe anxiety due to a possible COVID-19 infection in a loved one and worsening financial situation could be the potential sources of stress in health professionals.

Conclusion. Targeting situations that potentially cause severe anxiety, as well as factors contributing to addictive forms of behavior in health workers during the pandemic could be beneficial in prevention programs for medical personnel.

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