Burnout and turnover intention of primary health care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic in China.

Publisher: Elsevier Country of Publication: Netherlands NLM ID: 0376507 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1476-5616 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00333506 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Public Health Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: 2003- : Amsterdam : Elsevier
Original Publication: London ; New York : Academic Press

COVID-19*/epidemiology ; Burnout, Professional*/epidemiology; Child ; Humans ; Male ; Female ; Intention ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Pandemics ; China/epidemiology ; Job Satisfaction ; Health Personnel ; Personnel Turnover ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Objectives: This study explored the changes and new characteristics of burnout and turnover intention of primary health care (PHC) providers during the COVID-19 pandemic in China.
Study Design: This was a cross-sectional study.
Methods: This study investigated 1326 PHC providers during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2022 in one district of Shanghai, China. Independent t-test or one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test were used to analyse the between-group variation of variables associated to burnout and turnover intention. Then, hierarchical regression analysis was used to further determine the impact of certain variables on burnout and turnover intention, the relationship of burnout on turnover intention and the possible moderating effect.
Results: The results showed that there was no significant change in the prevalence of overall burnout of PHC providers compared to the pre-epidemic period; however, there was a significant increase in high-level burnout. No significant change in turnover intention at the moderate level and above was observed. During the COVID-19 pandemic, PHC providers who were older, married, local and had a higher skill level had higher burnout, while PHC providers who were male, unmarried, non-local and separated from their family had a higher turnover intention. It was shown that burnout, with its three sub-dimensions, was a good predictor of turnover intention. The impact of burnout on turnover intention was shown to be alleviated by certain variables, including being married, living locally and receiving benefit packages, including the preferential education policy for children and talent incentive policies.
Conclusions: Results from this study have highlighted the importance of paying attention to vulnerable groups of PHC providers, for example those who are separated from their families, during emergency situations. Various incentive tools could be comprehensively used to ensure the stability and efficiency of PHC human resources.
(Copyright © 2023 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Keywords: Burnout; COVID-19; Primary health care; Turnover intention

Date Created: 20231108 Date Completed: 20231205 Latest Revision: 20231205

20231205

10.1016/j.puhe.2023.10.018

37939460