Social Psychological Insights into Medicine’s Burnout Crisis

• In Event: Health, Well-being, and Emotions

Abstract

Healthcare workers experience greater psychological distress and burnout than the general population. This study synergizes insights from identity theory and the stress process model to explore how measures of identity salience and affective commitment associate with burnout among medical providers in a neonatal intensive care unit (n=218). We find that higher levels of both healthcare worker identity salience and commitment diminish feelings of burnout. However, when confronted with emotions discordant with professional norms—in this case, a greater tendency to engage in surface acting or dehumanize patients—those more emotionally invested in their workplace relationships experience heightened levels of burnout. These findings underscore the limits of healthcare worker identity as a balm for mental health, and indicate that in the face of emotion rule violations these putative resources can exert countervailing effects. We discuss the practical implications of our findings for medicine’s burnout crisis.

Authors

• Matt Grace, Hamilton College

• Jane VanHeuvelen, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities