Instruments for assessing health workers’ burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review

Abstract

Background

During the COVID-19 pandemic, health workers’ workload is increasing, with the risk of burnout. Several instruments for assessing burnout have been developed since the concept was coined in the 1970s. It is important to map and describe the application of burnout instruments for health workers in the current COVID-19 pandemic situation.

Aims

This article aimed to map and describe what instruments are used and variations of their application to research burnout in health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

This scoping review searched articles systematically through 7 databases (PubMed, Clinical Key, Scopus, EBSCOhost, APA PsycINFO, Science Direct, and Wiley Online Library). Articles were screened and analyzed following the Arksey and O’Malley framework.

Results

From 507 results, 31 peer-reviewed articles were selected. These studies involved 33,879 participants from various health professions. Generally, the research instrument is still dominated by Maslach Burnout Inventory. Applications of burnout measurements vary widely because there is no consensus on the concept of burnout assessment.

Conclusion

Inconsistency in burnout-measuring tools can be seen as providing flexibility and alternatives, but at the same time, it is a gap that challenges researchers to develop more comprehensive instruments, especially for the burnout phenomenon in health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords:

• Measurement
• burnout
• health personnel
• pandemic
• scoping review

Acknowledgment

The author would like to thank the staff of Klinik Bahasa in the Office of Research and Publication, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Medicine, Universitas Gadjah Mada for proofreading and editing of this manuscript. This study was supported by domestic postgraduate education scholarships by the Ministry of Education and Culture Republic of Indonesia in 2019; and the final project recognition grant by Universitas Gadjah Mada in 2022 (grant number 3550/UN1.P.III/Dit-Lit/PT.01.05/2022).

Disclosure statement

The authors state that there is no potential conflict of interest in the research described in this paper.

Data availability statement

As a scoping study, no data are attached to this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This article is one of the research outputs funded by a grant from the Directorate of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia.