BURNOUT
 

02 March 2023

Healthcare workers face psychosocial difficulties such as long working hours, intense workload, demands and complaints of patients, physical and psychological violence that they are exposed at work, and lack of social support. Healthcare workers complete their work by expending emotional, physical, and mental energy. They also are at high risk for burnout due to being one of the professions with the most intense human interaction and difficult working conditions. That's why professional burnout emerged as one of the most studied occupational groups from the moment it appeared, particularly among healthcare workers. 

Many symptoms such as depression, insomnia, long-term fatigue, distraction, social isolation, headache or muscle aches, and digestive system disorders can be seen in individuals who experience burnout. In addition to being a syndrome on its own, burnout can also be associated with depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. The burnout experienced by healthcare professionals not only harms them, but also causes healthcare worker shortages and retention difficulties, delays in the care and diagnosis of patients, and increased costs.

Although burnout occurs with the effect of negative working conditions, it is not enough to change working conditions alone to cope with burnout. Studies have shown that dealing with adversities more effectively provides a significant reduction in burnout.

However, despite the difficulties that healthcare workers face, it is seen that they experience deficiencies in seeking psychological help. This has many reasons, such as lack of time, stigma, shame, transportation, etc.

We all have responsibilities to prevent the burnout of health workers. To do our part, we aimed to create a self-help program for health professionals to cope with burnout. The current project aims to help healthcare professionals who have or are likely to experience various psychological difficulties due to factors such as heavy workload and demanding patient density. This web-based self-help program is designed to help people to cope with these difficulties on their own, without any other person and need for transportation.