Burnout, emotional distress and sleep quality among Chinese psychiatric healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a follow-up study

Kurzfassung/Abstract

Background: Different from the very early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, burnout and chronic mental health problems among health care workers (HCWs) has become a challenge. Research is lacking on the relationship between burnout, stress, emotional distress and sleep quality.

Methods: The Chinese center has been involved in the Cope-Corona project since the second survey (T2). Named after the project, a total of three cross-sectional surveys were distributed: T2 (February 16–20, 2021), T3 (May 10–14, 2022), and T4 (December 20–24, 2022). Burnout, depression, anxiety, sleep quality, workplace factors and individual resources were measured. Using the T4 data, we conducted structural equation model (SEM) to examine the mediating role of burnout in predicting emotional distress and sleep quality.

Results: 96, 124, and 270 HCWs were enrolled at T2, T3, and T4, respectively. In line with the epidemic trends, the level of perceived COVID-19 related risks was significantly higher at T4, while the feeling of health and safety decreased significantly. At T4, the percentages of participants with clinically significant levels of depression and anxiety symptoms were 18.9% (51/270) and 9.3% (25/270), respectively, while 30.4% (82/270) of them reported poor or very poor sleep quality. According to the SEM, individual resources and workplace factors mainly had an indirect effect in predicting depression and anxiety via burnout. However, neither burnout nor stress was a mediator or predictor of sleep quality. Instead, individual resources, positive workplace factors, and younger age had a direct effect in predicting good sleep quality.

Conclusion: Measures designed to enhance workplace factors and individual resources should be implemented to improve psychosomatic wellbeing of HCWs.