Negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on health workers: a cross-sectional study on emotional labor and burnout

INTRODUCTION: This research aimed to examine the relationship between emotional labor and burnout levels of health-care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
METHODS: It was aimed to examine healthcare workers’ emotional labor and burnout levels during the COVID-19 pan-demic in this cross-sectional descriptive and relationship-seeking study. Data were obtained from 315 healthcare workers who worked at a hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic between February 1 and 26, 2021, using a Descriptive Information Form, the Emotional Labor Inventory, and Maslach Burnout Inventory. The data collection tools were sent online to health workers. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, One-Way Variance (ANOVA), Kruskal-Wallis tests, and Pearson analysis.
RESULTS: The mean scores of the participants’ total Emotional Labor Inventory, surface acting, deep-acting, and naturally felt emotions subdimensions were 39.18±6.79, 15.71±5.21, 12.58±3.58, and 10.88±2.62, respectively. The mean scores of the participants’ total Maslach Burnout Inventory, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment subdimensions were 40.61±10.95, 20.68±7.23, 7.56±3.73, and 12.36±4.66, respectively. It was found that there was a positive significant relationship between the participants’ total emotional labor and burnout point averages (p<0.05). The analysis showed that in the COVID-19 pandemic, emotional labor behavior increases in healthcare workers, and this leads to burnout.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Participants’ mean scores of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization from burnout subdimensions were found to be moderate, and their personal accomplishment subdimension mean score was found to be high. Emotional labor behavior has a determining role in the burnout of the participants.