Review Article

The Effect of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on Job Satisfaction, Work Stress and Burnout of Healthcare Workers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Background: We aimed to examine the job satisfaction (JS), work stress (WS) and burnout (B) levels of healthcare workers (HCWs), who are at the forefront of the fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic process, which negatively affects the whole world, by meta-analysis.

Methods: Articles, theses and papers in the literature before the COVID-19 (2014-2019) and during COVID-19 (2020-2022) were systematically reviewed. The sample size of 54 studies conducted from 13 countries was 49.139. Data analysis was performed with the Comprehensive Meta-analysis (CMA) 3.0 Version program.

Results: According to the random effect model analysis result, a negative, significant and low-level relationship was found between WS and JS, before and during COVID-19. There was a negative, significant and medium level relationship between JS and B. It was found positive, significant and high-level relationship between WS and B. Human development level (HDL) has a moderating effect on WS and B. In addition, sample size has moderating effect on WS and JS.

Conclusion: During the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, HCWs have experienced more burnout due to strict isolation, working conditions requiring overtime, fatigue, insomnia and concerns about virus transmission. Intense work tempo, inadequate health equipment, patient deaths, and low wages are the factors that decrease JS and increase WS and B. It is recommended to improve working conditions globally and provide financial support and mental health protection for HCWs.

1. World Health Organization (2020). Mental health and psychosocial considerations during COVID- 19 Outbreak, 1-6.
2. Behera D, Praveen D, Behera MR (2020). Protecting Indian health workforce dur-ing the COVID-19 pandemic. J Family Med Prim Care, 9(9):4541-4546.
3. Kumar A, Nayar KR (2021). COVID 19 and its mental health consequences. J Ment Health, 30(1):1-2.
4. Montani F, Staglianò R (2022). Innovation in times of pandemic: The moderating effect of knowledge sharing on the rela-tionship between COVID‐19‐induced job stress and employee innovation. R&D Management,52(2):193-205.
5. McKibbin W, Fernando R (2020). The global macroeconomic impacts of COVID-19: Seven scenarios. CAMA Working Paper No. 19/2020.
6. Di Tella M, Romeo A, Benfante A, Castelli L (2020). Mental health of healthcare workers during the COVID‐19 pandem-ic in Italy. J Eval Clin Pract, 26(6):1583-1587.
7. Greenberg, N, Docherty M, Gnanapra-gasam S, Wessely S (2020). Managing mental health challenges faced by healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic. BMJ, 368:m1211.
8. Spoorthy MS, Pratapa SK, Mahant S (2020). Mental health problems faced by healthcare workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic–A review. Asian J Psychiatr, 51:102119.
9. Lin RT, Lin YT, Hsia YF, Kuo CC (2021). Long working hours and burnout in health care workers: Non-linear dose-response relationship and the effect mediated by sleeping hours-A cross-sectional study. J Occup Health,63(1): e12228.
10. Malesza M (2021). Factors informing healthcare workers' willingness to work during the COVID-19 pandemic. MedRxiv.1-19.
11. Magnavita N, Soave PM, Antonelli M (2021). Prolonged stress causes depres-sion in frontline workers facing the COVID-19 pandemic—a repeated cross-sectional study in a COVID-19 hub-hospital in central Italy. Int J Envi-ron Res Public Health, 18(14):7316.
12. Salari, N, Khazaie, H, Hosseinian-Far, et al (2020). The prevalence of stress, anxiety and depression within front-line healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients: a systematic review and me-ta-regression. Hum Resour Health,18(1):100.
13. Trumello C, Bramanti SM, Ballarotto G, et al (2020). Psychological adjustment of healthcare workers in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic: differences in stress, anxiety, depression, burnout, sec-ondary trauma, and compassion satis-faction between frontline and non-frontline professionals. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 17(22):8358.
14. Lee HA, Ahn MH, Byun S, et al (2021). How COVID-19 affected healthcare workers in the hospital locked down due to early COVID-19 cases in Korea. J Korean Med Sci, 36(47):e325.
15. Vizheh M, Qorbani M, Arzaghi SM, et al (2020). The mental health of healthcare workers in the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review. J Diabetes Metab Disord, 19(2):1967-1978.
16. Leiter MP, Maslach C (2003). "areas of worklife: a structured approach to or-ganizational predictors of job burnout", Perrewe, P.L. and Ganster, D.C. (Ed.) Emotional and Physiological Processes and Positive Intervention Strategies (Re-search in Occupational Stress and Well Being, Vol. 3), Emerald Group Publish-ing Limited, Leeds, pp. 91-134.
17. Beehr TA, Newman, JE (1978). Job stress, employee health, and organizational ef-fectiveness: A facet analysis, model, and literature review 1. Personnel Psycholo-gy,31(4):665-699.
18. Yavuzer Y, Çivilidağ A (2014). Mediator role of depression on the relationship between mobbing and life satisfaction of health Professionals. Dusunen Adam The Journal of Psychiatry and Neurological Sci-ences,27(2):115-125.
19. Errazuriz A, Schmidt K, Undurraga EA et al (2022). Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on psychological dis-tress in health workers: A three-arm par-allel randomized controlled trial. J Psy-chiatr Res, 145:284-293.
20. Hackman JR, Oldham, GR (1975). Devel-opment of the job diagnostic survey. Journal of Applied Psychology,60(2):159–170.
21. Brief AP, Weiss HM (2002). Organizational behavior: Affect in the workplace. Annu Rev Psychol, 53:279-307.
22. Price JL (2004). The development of a causal model of voluntary turnover. In-novative Theory and Empirical Research on Employee Turnover,3-34.
23. Worldpopulationreview.com. (2022). Hu-man development index (HDI) by coun-try 2022. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/hdi-by-country
24. Spector TD, Thompson SG (1991). The po-tential and limitations of meta-analysis. J Epidemiol Community Health, 45(2):89-92.
25. Gignac GE, Szodorai ET (2016). Effect size guidelines for individual differences re-searchers. Personality and Individual Differ-ences,102:74-78.
26. Borenstein M, Hedges LV, Higgins JPT, Rothstein HR (2021). Introduction to meta-analysis. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. London.
27. Cohen J (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin,112:155–159.
28. Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman D (2009). Preferred reporting items for sys-tematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. Ann Intern Med, 151(4):264-269.
29. Caponnetto P, Platania S, Maglia M, et al (2022). Health occupation and job satis-faction: the impact of psychological capital in the management of clinical psychological stressors of healthcare workers in the COVID-19 era. Int J Envi-ron Res Public Health,19(10): 6134.
30. Wu PE, Styra R, Gold WL (2020). Mitigating the psychological effects of COVID-19 on health care workers. CMAJ, 192(17):E459-E460.
31. Dymecka J, Filipkowski J, Machnik-Czerwik A (2021). Fear of COVID-19: Stress and job satisfaction among Polish doctors during the pandemic. Postep Psychiatr Neurol, 30(4):243-250.
32. Jasiński AM, Derbis R, Walczak R (2021). Workload, job satisfaction and occupa-tional stress in polish midwives before and during the COVID-19 pandemic Med Pr, 72(6):623-632.
33. Joshua R, Fouad Chehab RD, Salim NA (2021). Impact of work stress during COVID-19 epidemic on job satisfaction and job performance among nurses in critical care units, United Arab Emirates 2020. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine Research,5(2):225-231.
34. Said RM, El-Shafei DA (2021). Occupation-al stress, job satisfaction, and intent to leave: nurses working on front lines dur-ing COVID-19 pandemic in Zagazig City, Egypt. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 28(7):8791-8801.
35. Adamopoulos IP, Syrou NF (2022). Associa-tions and correlations of job stress, job satisfaction and burn out in public health sector. Eur J Environ Public Health, 6(2):em0113.
36. Kayaoğlu K, Aslanoğlu E (2022). Determin-ing job satisfaction and job stress levels of nurses during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic: A cross-sectional survey. Med Science, 11(4):1420-1424.
37. Maraqa B, Nazzal Z, Zink T (2020). Pales-tinian health care workers’ stress and stressors during COVID-19 pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study. J Prim Care Com-munity Health, 11: 2150132720955026.
38. Aldhuwayhi S, Shaikh SA, Mallineni SK, et al (2022). Occupational stress and stress busters used among saudi dental practi-tioners during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Disaster Med Public Health Prep, 16(5):1975-1981.
39. Murat M, Köse S, Savaşer S (2021). Deter-mination of stress, depression and burnout levels of front‐ line nurses dur-ing the COVID‐19 pandemic. Int J Ment Health Nurs, 30(2):533-543.
40. Prasad K, McLoughlin C, Stillman M, et al (2021). Prevalence and correlates of stress and burnout among U.S. healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A national cross-sectional survey study. EClinicalMedicine, 35:100879.
41. Ocak M, Yurt NŞ, Yurt YC, Çalışkan HM (2021). The burnout levels of emergency employees in COVID-19 pandemic and the related factors. Harran Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Dergisi,18(2):250-255.
42. Croghan IT, Chesak SS, Adusumalli J, et al (2021). Stress, resilience, and coping of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Prim Care Community Health, 12: 21501327211008448.
43. Ishikawa M, Ogasawara T, Takahashi K, et al (2021). Psychological effects on healthcare workers during the COVID-19 outbreak: a single-center study at a tertiary hospital in Tokyo, Japan. Intern Med, 60(17):2771-2776.
44. Nashwan AJ, Abujaber AA, Villar RC, et al (2021). Comparing the impact of COVID-19 on Nurses’ turnover inten-tions before and during the pandemic in Qatar. J Pers Med, 11(6):456.
45. Sperling D (2021). Ethical dilemmas, per-ceived risk, and motivation among nurs-es during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurs Ethics, 28(1):9-22.
46. Sriharan A, Ratnapalan S, Tricco AC, Lupea D (2021). Women in healthcare experi-encing occupational stress and burnout during COVID-19: a rapid review. BMJ Open,11(4): e048861.
47. Sun Y, Song H, Liu H, et al (2021). Occupa-tional stress, mental health and self-efficacy among community mental health workers: a cross-sectional study during COVID-19 pandemic. Int J Soc Psychiatry, 67(6):737-746.
48. Zeng X, Peng T, Hao X, et al. (2021). Psy-chological distress reported by primary care physicians in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychosom Med, 83(4):380-386.
49. Zhan Y, Ma S, Jian X, Cao Y, Zhan X (2020). The current situation and influ-encing factors of job stress among frontline nurses assisting in Wuhan in fighting COVID-19. Front Public Health, 8: 579866.
50. Soto-Rubio A, Giménez-Espert MDC, Pra-do-Gascó V (2020). Effect of emotional intelligence and psychosocial risks on burnout, job satisfaction, and nurses’ health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 17(21):7998.
51. Afulani PA, Nutor JJ, Agbadi P, et al (2021). Job satisfaction among healthcare workers in Ghana and Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of per-ceived preparedness, stress, and burnout. PLOS Glob Public Health, 1(10): e0000022.
52. Alrawashdeh HM, Al-Tammemi AAB, Al-zawahreh MK, et al (2021). Occupational burnout and job satisfaction among physicians in times of COVID-19 crisis: A convergent parallel mixed-method study. BMC Public Health,21(1):811.
53. Jin R (2022). Job satisfaction and burnout of psychiatric nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic in China—the moderation of family support. Front Psy-chol, 13: 1006518.
54. Lazarides AL, Belay ES, Anastasio AT, et al (2021). Physician burnout and profes-sional satisfaction in orthopedic sur-geons during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Work,69(1):15-22.
55. Lea J, Doherty I, Reede L, Mahoney CB (2022). Predictors of burnout, job satis-faction, and turnover among CRNAs during COVID-19 surging. AANA, 90(2):141-147.
56. De los Santos JAA, Labrague LJ (2021). The impact of fear of COVID-19 on job stress, and turnover intentions of front-line nurses in the community: A cross-sectional study in the Philippines. Trau-matology, 27(1):1-27.
57. Dimitriu MC, Pantea-Stoian A, Smaranda AC, et al (2020). Burnout syndrome in Romanian medical residents in time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Med Hypothe-ses,144: 109972.
58. Giménez-Espert M, Prado-Gascó V, Soto-Rubio A (2020). Psychosocial risks, work engagement, and job satisfaction of nurses during COVID-19 pandemic. Front Public Health,8: 566896.
59. Mion G, Hamann P, Saleten M, Plaud B, Baillard C (2021). Psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and burn-out severity in French residents: A na-tional study. The Eur J Psychiatry, 35(3):173-180.
60. Yanez JA, Jahanshahi AA, Alvarez-Risco A, Li J, Zhang SX (2020). Anxiety, distress, and turnover intention of healthcare workers in Peru by their distance to the epicenter during the COVID-19 crisis. Am J Trop Med Hyg,103(4):1614-1620.
61. Tomlin J, Dalgleish-Warburton B, Lamph G (2020). Psychosocial support for healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Front Psychol, 11: 1960.
62. Heath C, Sommerfield A, Von Ungern‐Sternberg BS (2020). Resilience strategies to manage psychological distress among healthcare workers during the COVID‐19 pandemic: a narrative review. Anaes-thesia,75(10):1364-1371.
63. Abarghouei MR, Sorbi MH, Abarghouei M, et al (2016). A study of job stress and burnout and related factors in the hospi-tal personnel of Iran. Electron Physician, 8(7):2625-2632.
64. Adler AB, Adrian AL, Hemphill M, et al (2017). Stress and burnout in US military medical personnel deployed to Afghan-istan. Mil Med, 182(3-4):e1669-e1676.
65. Hong E, Jung A, Woo K (2022). A cross-sectional study on public health nurses' disaster competencies and influencing factors during the COVID-19 pandemic in Korea. BMC Public Health,22(1):731.
66. Lee SA, Park JE, Jang JH (2022). Correlation between stress and anxiety to viral epi-demics (save) and burnout among Kore-an dental hygienists during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 19(6):3668.
67. Spányik A, Simon D, Rigó A, et al (2022). Subjective COVID-19-related work fac-tors predict stress, burnout, and depres-sion among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic but not objec-tive factors. PLoS One,17(8):e0270156.
68. Kim YH, Kim SR, Kim YO, et al (2017). In-fluence of type D personality on job stress and job satisfaction in clinical nurses: the mediating effects of compas-sion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction. J Adv Nurs, 73(4):905-916.
69. Labrague LJ, Nwafor CE, Tsaras K (2020). Influence of toxic and transformational leadership practices on nurses' job satis-faction, job stress, absenteeism and turnover intention: A cross‐sectional study. J Nurs Manag, 28(5):1104-1113.
70. Lim YH, Cho YC (2018). Effects of job stress, fatigue, burnout, and job satisfac-tion on turnover intention among gen-eral hospital nurses. Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial Cooperation Socie-ty,19(6):264-274.
71. Shi Y, Xue H, Ma Y, et al (2020). Prevalence of occupational exposure and its influ-ence on job satisfaction among Chinese healthcare workers: a large-sample, cross-sectional study. BMJ Open, 10(4):e031953.
72. Tavakoli N, Shaker SH, Soltani S, et al (2018). Job burnout, stress, and satisfac-tion among emergency nursing staff af-ter health system transformation plan in Iran. Emerg (Tehran), 6(1):e41.
73. Yang Y, Chen J (2020). Related factors of turnover intention among pediatric nurses in mainland China: A structural equation modeling analysis. J Pediatr Nurs, 53:e217-e223.
Files
IssueVol 53 No 7 (2024) QRcode
SectionReview Article(s)
Keywords
Healthcare workers Job satisfaction Work stress Burnout Meta-analysis

Rights and permissions
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
1.
Çivilidağ A, Durmaz Şerife, Uslu B. The Effect of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on Job Satisfaction, Work Stress and Burnout of Healthcare Workers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Iran J Public Health. 2024;53(7):1482-1495.