Kontakt 2024, 26(2):120-125 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2024.021

Depression and burnout among Hungarian health workers during the COVID-19 pandemicNursing - Original article

Aniko Nemeth1, *, Katalin Papp2
1 University of Szeged, Faculty of Health Sciences and Social Studies, Szeged, Hungary
2 University of Debrecen, Health Science Faculty, Debrecen, Hungary

Introduction: The coronavirus epidemic caught the world by surprise. The already overburdened and understaffed health sector faced new challenges that made the daily lives of health workers even more difficult.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the extent of burnout and symptoms of depression in health workers, and their association with work in COVID care and other sociodemographic and workplace factors.

Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted from 27 January 2022 to 14 February 2022 with a self-constructed questionnaire. Data were analysed with descriptive statistics, Chi-square tests, and Spearman correlations (p < 0.05).

Results: Of the 10,285 Hungarian respondents who completed the questionnaire, 42.3% suffered from varying degrees of depression and 64.4% from burnout. These two psychological factors are significantly associated with marital status, sex, number of years in health care, levels of health care, and the length of time working in COVID care. A high degree of burnout and severe depression will result in a negative assessment of the COVID vaccine. The older the respondent, the lower the levels of depression and burnout.

Conclusion: Working in COVID care has had a significant negative impact on the mental health of health workers. It is important to note that the Beck Depression Scale alone is not sufficient to diagnose depression.

Keywords: Burnout; COVID-19; Depression; Healthcare workers
Conflicts of interest:

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Received: February 5, 2024; Revised: March 12, 2024; Accepted: April 29, 2024; Prepublished online: April 29, 2024; Published: May 31, 2024  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Nemeth A, Papp K. Depression and burnout among Hungarian health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kontakt. 2024;26(2):120-125. doi: 10.32725/kont.2024.021.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Ariapooran S, Ahadi B, Khezeli M (2022). Depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation in nurses with and without symptoms of secondary traumatic stress during the COVID-19 outbreak. Arch Psychiatr Nurs 37: 76-81. DOI: 10.1016/j.apnu.2021.05.005. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    2. Beck AT, Ward CH, Mendelson M, Mock J, Erbaugh J (1961). An inventory for measuring depression. Arch Gen Psychiatry 4: 561-571. DOI: 10.1001/archpsyc.1961.01710120031004. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    3. Chor WPD, Ng WM, Cheng L, Situ W, Chong JW, Ng LYA, et al. (2021). Burnout amongst emergency healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-center study. Am J Emerg Med 46: 700-702. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajem.2020.10.040. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    4. Füredi J, Németh A (Eds) (2015). The Hungarian Handbook of Psychiatry [A pszichiátria magyar kézikönyve]. Medicina Könyvkiadó Zrt. 162. old, 1100 p.
    5. Ghahramani S, Lankarani KB, Yousefi M, Heydari K, Shahabi S, Azmand S (2021). A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Burnout Among Healthcare Workers During COVID-19. Front Psychiatry 12: 758849. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.758849. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    6. Hirdi H, Balogh Z (2021). Talking to patients about vaccination in community care: a guide for nurses [Beszélgetés a páciensekkel a védőoltásokról a közösségi ellátásban: útmutató ápolóknak]. Nővér 34(5): 30-38.
    7. Iffat W, Nesar S, Shakeel S, Quamar A, Nazar S, Rahim M, et al. (2021). Measures of Depressive Symptoms Using Beck Depression Inventory-IIbamong Healthcare Professionals during a Pandemic of COVID-19. Lat Am J Pharm 40(4): 729-734.
    8. Irinyi T, Németh A, Lampek K (2017). Comparison of the Pines Burnout Inventory with the Maslach Burnout Inventory. [A Pines-féle Kiégés Leltár összevetése a Maslach Burnout Inventory-val]. Nővér 30(6): 11-16.
    9. Izdebski Z, Kozakiewicz A, Białorudzki M, Dec-Pietrowska J, Mazur J (2023). Occupational Burnout in Healthcare Workers, Stress and Other Symptoms of Work Overload during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Poland. Int J Environ Res Public Health 20(3): 2428. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20032428. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    10. Jalili M, Niroomand M, Hadavand F, Zeinali K, Fotouhi K (2021). Burnout among healthcare professionals during COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 94(6): 1345-1352. DOI: 10.1007/s00420-021-01695-x. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    11. Osváth P (2021). Mental health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. How can we prepare for a psychodemic crisis? [A COVID-19 pandémia mentálhigiénés következményei. Hogyan tudunk felkészülni a pszichodémiás krízisre?]. Orvosi Hetilap 162(10): 366-374. DOI: 10.1556.650.2021.31141. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    12. Pappa S, Ntella V, Giannakas T, Giannakoulis VG, Papoutsi E, Katsaounou P (2020). Prevalence of depression, anxiety, and insomnia among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Brain Behav Immun 88: 901-907. DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2020.05.026. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    13. Pines AM, Aronson E, Kafry D (1981). Burnout: from Tedium to personal growth. New York City, The Free Press, 229 p.
    14. Purebl G, Réthelyi J (2022). COVID-19 pandemic and mental health: international outlook and preliminary domestic data [COVID-19 világjárvány és mentális egészség: nemzetközi kitekintés és előzetes hazai adatok]. Népegészségügy 99(1): 105-111.
    15. Tabur A, Elkefi S, Emhan A, Mengenci C, Bez Y, Asan O (2022). Anxiety, Burnout and Depression, Psychological Well-Being as Predictor of Healthcare Professionals' Turnover during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Study in a Pandemic Hospital. Healthcare 10(3): 525. DOI: 10.3390/healthcare10030525. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    16. Yildirim TT, Atas O, Asafov A, Yildirim K, Balibey H (2020). Psychological Status of Healthcare Workers during the Covid-19 Pandemic. J Coll Physicians Surg Pak 30(6): 26-31. DOI: 10.29271/jcpsp.2020.Supp.S26. Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content