Burnout among public health workers during the COVID-19 response: Results from a follow-up survey
Date
2024-08-07
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
PLOS Mental Health
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.
Description
Copyright: © 2024 Scales et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Data Availability: Data, codebook, and the survey have been uploaded into the DesignSafe data repository (PRJ-4545). The project is currently being published, and the following citation is being processed by DesignSafe to go live: Scales, S., K. Kintziger, K. Stone, M. Jagger, J. Horney. (2024) "Public Health Workforce COVID-19 Burnout." DesignSafe-CI. https://doi.org/10.17603/ds2-y5jp-ff88 We will update if there are any changes to the project file DOI.
Keywords
good health and well-being, decent work and economic growth
Citation
Scales SE, Kintziger KW, Stone KW, Jagger MA, Horney JA (2024) Burnout among public health workers during the COVID-19 response: Results from a follow-up survey. PLOS Ment Health 1(3): e0000100. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmen.0000100