Burnout among French pediatric healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

The objectives of our study were: (1) to establish the prevalence of burnout among French pediatric healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) to identify the psychosocial factors that predict burnout in these healthcare workers. To achieve these objectives, a total of 99 physicians and 55 nurses from various French pediatric services completed a protocol questioning socio-demographic characteristics, the specific stress of pediatric care workers, the stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic, occupational stress (JSS), coping strategies (WCC-R) and burnout (MBI). Descriptive analyses (frequencies, means, and standard deviations) were used to address objectives (1). Multiple linear regressions were performed to address objective (2). The prevalence of burnout was 48% (95% CI [40–56]). Occupational stress and stress related to working conditions were the main factors predicting emotional exhaustion. Being female, years of practice, social support-seeking and stress related to confrontation with suffering and death negatively and significantly predicted depersonalization. Being a nurse, problem-focused coping and the sense of impact of the pandemic on the daily work significantly predicted personal accomplishment. In conclusion, our study showed a high prevalence of burnout among French pediatric healthcare workers, but the impact of the pandemic on this prevalence did not seem significant.

KEYWORDS:

• Burnout
• stress
• healthcare
• physicians
• nurses
• pediatrics
• COVID-19
• pandemic

List of abbreviation

JSS: Job Stress SurveyMBI: Maslach Burnout Inventory MBI-D: Maslach Burnout Inventory-Depersonalization MBI-EE: Maslach Burnout Inventory – Emotional Exhaustion MBI-PA: Maslach Burnout Inventory – Personal Accomplishments WCC-R: Ways of Coping Checklist-Revised

Data availability statement

The participants of this study did not give written consent for their data to be shared publicly, so due to the sensitive nature of the research supporting data is not available.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Ethical considerations

The study protocol was approved by Ethics and Research Committee from Paris Descartes University (N°CER: 2018–89). Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was secured for this study.