Journal Article

Systematic review of burnout among healthcare providers in sub-Saharan Africa

Gelaye, Bizu, Dossett, Michelle L., Friedman, Lauren E., Alem, Atalay, Dubale, Benyam W., Chemali, Zeina, Denninger, John W., Fricchione, Gregory L., Mehta, Darshan H.

2019

Overview

Background Burnout is characterized by physical and emotional exhaustion from long-term exposure to emotionally demanding work. Burnout affects interpersonal skills, job performance, career satisfaction, and psychological health. However, little is known about the burden of burnout among healthcare providers in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods Relevant articles were identified through a systematic review of PubMed, Web of Science (Thomson Reuters), and PsycINFO (EBSCO). Studies were selected for inclusion if they examined a quantitative measure of burnout among healthcare providers in sub-Saharan Africa. Results A total of 65 articles met our inclusion criteria for this systematic review. Previous studies have examined burnout in sub-Saharan Africa among physicians ( N  = 12 articles), nurses ( N  = 26), combined populations of healthcare providers ( N  = 18), midwives ( N  = 2), and medical or nursing students ( N  = 7). The majority of studies assessed burnout using the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The highest levels of burnout were reported among nurses, although all healthcare providers showed high burnout. Burnout among healthcare providers is associated with their work environments, interpersonal and professional conflicts, emotional distress, and low social support. Conclusions Available studies on this topic are limited by several methodological challenges. More rigorously designed epidemiologic studies of burnout among healthcare providers are warranted. Health infrastructure improvements will eventually be essential, though difficult to achieve, in under-resourced settings. Programs aimed at raising awareness and coping with burnout symptoms through stress management and resilience enhancement trainings are also needed.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Adaptation, Psychological / Adult / Africa South of the Sahara / Analysis / Biostatistics / Burn out (Psychology) / Burnout / Burnout, Professional - epidemiology / Burnout, Professional - psychology / Care and treatment / Career development / Careers / Emotions / Employee performance / Environmental Health / Epidemiology / Exhaustion / Fatigue / Female / Health care / Health care industry / Health personnel / Health Personnel - psychology / Health Personnel - statistics & numerical data / High income / Hospitals / Humans / Infrastructure (Economics) / Job Satisfaction / Low income groups / Male / Medical personnel / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Mental health / Midwifery / Midwives / Nurses / Nursing / Occupational health / Occupational safety and health / Occupational Stress - psychology / Physicians / Physicians - psychology / Population / Practice / Public Health / Quality / Research Article / Resilience (Psychology) / Risk factors / Social interactions / Social support / Studies / Sub-Saharan Africa / Systematic review / Training / Vaccine / Workers / Workplace - psychology / Workplace - statistics & numerical data