The Relationship Between Burnout, Depression, and Anxiety: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Burnout is a psychological syndrome characterized by emotional exhaustion, feelings of cynicism and reduced personal accomplishment. In the past years there has been disagreement on whether burnout and depression are the same or different constructs, as they appear to share some common features (e.g., loss of interest and impaired concentration). However, the results so far are inconclusive and researchers disagree with regard to the degree to which we should expect such overlap. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to examine the relationship between burnout and depression. Additionally, given that burnout is the result of chronic stress and that working environments can often trigger anxious reactions, we also investigated the relationship between burnout and anxiety.Method: We searched the online databases SCOPUS, Web of Science, MEDLINE (PubMed), and Google Scholar for studies examining the relationship between burnout and depression and burnout and anxiety, which were published between January 2007 and August 2018. Inclusion criteria were used for all studies and included both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs, published and unpublished research articles, full-text articles, articles written in the English language, studies that present the effects sizes of their findings and that used reliable research tools.Results: Our results showed a significant association between burnout and depression (r = 0.520, SE = 0.012, 95% CI = 0.492, 0.547) and burnout and anxiety (r = 0.460, SE = 0.014, 95% CI = 0.421, 0.497). However, moderation analysis for both burnout–depression and burnout–anxiety relationships revealed that the studies in which either the MBI test was used or were rated as having better quality showed lower effect sizes.Conclusions: Our research aims to clarify the relationship between burnout–depression and burnout–anxiety relationships. Our findings revealed no conclusive overlap between burnout and depression and burnout and anxiety, indicating that they are different and robust constructs. Future studies should focus on utilizing more longitudinal designs in order to assess the causal relationships between these variables

Why Talking Is Not Cheap: Adverse Events and Informal Communication

Healthcare management faces significant challenges related to upward communication. Sharing information in healthcare is crucial to the improvement of person-centered, safe, and effective patient care. An adverse event (AE) is an unintended or unexpected incident that causes harm to a patient and may lead to temporary or permanent disability. Learning from adverse events in healthcare is crucial to the improvement of patient safety and quality of care. Informal communication channels represent an untapped resource with regard to gathering data about the development of AEs. In this viewpoint paper, we start by identifying how informal communication played a key factor in some high-profile adverse events. Then, we present three Critical Challenge points that examine the role of informal communication in adverse events by (1) understanding how the prevailing trends in healthcare will make informal communication more important, (2) explaining how informal communication is part of the group-level sensemaking process, and (3) highlighting the potential role of informal communication in “breaking the silence” around critical and adverse events. Gossip, as one of the most important sources of informal communication, was examined in depth. Delineating the role of informal communication and adverse events within the healthcare context is pivotal to understanding and improving team and upward communication in healthcare organizations. For clinical leaders, the challenge is to cultivate a climate of communication safety, whereby informal communication channels can be used to collect soft intelligence that are paths to improving the quality of care and patient safety

"Diagnosing" burnout among healthcare professionals: Can we find consensus?

Abstract: Burnout is an established phenomenon across cultures and occupations. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) is the most commonly used measure of burnout. The MBI delineates burnout according to three components (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment) and provides the opportunity to assign a classification of burnout. However, the criteria of what constitutes burnout and/or low, medium or high burnout varies considerably. In the following paper, we have systematically reviewed studies of healthcare professionals that specifically "diagnose" burnout. Results indicate multiple approaches to assigning different levels of burnout. The need for a consensus on how to classify different degrees of burnout is discussed

Talking behind their backs: Negative gossip and burnout in Hospitals

Background: Gossip can both hinder and help in a hospital environment. Despite the fact that research indicated that it occurs most frequently in healthcare, it has not been studied in relation to other organizational manifestations such as burnout and engagement, or quality of care outcomes. We hypothesize that negative gossip, defined as negative evaluative talk about an absent third party would function as an indicator of organizational dysfunction. Methods: A quantitative survey was conducted among doctors, nurses and residents in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Croatia and Republic of Macedonia (N = 532). Specifically, we examined the role of negative gossip, in relation to burnout, job engagement, suboptimal care and patient safety in public hospitals. Results: Results indicate that, after controlling for negative affect, negative gossip is positively related to emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Negative gossip negatively correlated with job engagement and patient safety and positively correlated with suboptimal care, even after controlling for burnout. Negative gossip was positively related to the number of event reporting. Discussion: Gossip is an important aspect of organizational functioning. The degree to which negative gossip is a coping mechanism of healthcare professionals is discussed

“Diagnosing” burnout among healthcare professionals: Can we find consensus?

Burnout is an established phenomenon across cultures and occupations. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) is the most commonly used measure of burnout. The MBI delineates burnout according to three components (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment) and provides the opportunity to assign a classification of burnout. However, the criteria of what constitutes burnout and/or low, medium or high burnout varies considerably. In the following paper, we have systematically reviewed studies of healthcare professionals that specifically “diagnose” burnout. Results indicate multiple approaches to assigning different levels of burnout. The need for a consensus on how to classify different degrees of burnout is discussed

Workplace fun is not enough: the role of work engagement and trust

Research on workplace fun has neither identified the processes through which its positive impact is achieved nor the mechanisms that facilitate it. In the present study we examined the protecting role of five workplace fun dimensions with regard to need for recovery from work, turnover intentions, and chronic social stressors and the mediating role of vigor, dedication and absorption (work engagement). We also explored workplace fun under conditions of high, medium and low trust. The study was a cross-sectional survey. Four hundred and thirty-three employed individuals working in various professions in Greece participated by filling in an online questionnaire. Convenience sampling was used. A series of hierarchical regression analyses and mediation and moderation analyses showed that work engagement dimensions (vigor, dedication, and absorption) mediate the impact of organic workplace fun and management support for fun on turnover intentions, chronic social stressors and need for recovery from work. A significant interaction effect of trust for the relationship between different types of workplace fun and the outcomes measured was found. Our study shows that the relationship of workplace fun with favorable outcomes can be explained by fluctuations in work engagement and is stronger when trust levels are sufficient