Social capital and burnout among mental healthcare providers

Abstract

Background: Provider burnout is a critical problem in mental health services. Contributing factors have been explicated across three domains: personal, job and organizational characteristics. Of these, organizational characteristics, including workplace environment, appear to be particularly important given that most interventions addressing burnout via the other domains (e.g. bolstering personal coping skills) have been modestly effective at best.

Aims: This study builds on previous research by using social capital as a framework for the experience of work social milieu, and aims to provide a richer understanding of how workplace social environment might impact burnout and help create more effective ways to reduce burnout.

Methods: Providers (n = 40) taking part in a larger burnout intervention study were randomly selected to take part in interviews regarding their workplace environment and burnout. Participant responses were analyzed thematically.

Results: Workplace social milieu revolved around two primary themes: workplace social capital in provider burnout and the protective qualities of social capital in cohesive work teams that appear to mitigate burnout.

Conclusions: These results imply that work environments where managers support collaboration and social interaction among work teams may reduce burnout.

Keywords:

• Burnout
• mental health
• social capital
• work climate
• organizational contexts

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Linda Collins and Jessica McGlynn for their assistance with data collection.

Declaration of interest

The authors have accepted honoraria to teach burnout prevention to social service workers. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

The projects reported here were supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Health Services Research and Development Investigator-Initiated Merit Award [IIR 11-030] and the Center for Innovation [CIN 13-416].