Relationship between COVID-19-caused Anxiety and Job Burnout among Hospital Staff: A Cross-sectional Study in the Southeast of Iran

The sudden emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may lead to anxiety due to this disease among hospital staff. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the anxiety caused by COVID-19 and its relationship with burnout among hospital staff.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on the staff of a hospital located in Zahedan, Iran, in May 2020. The subjects (n=353) were entered into the study using the census sampling method and inclusion criteria and completed a three-part questionnaire containing demographic and occupational information, Corona Disease Anxiety Scale, and Maslach Burnout Inventory. The collected data were analyzed in Stata software (version 14).

Based on the results, more than half of the samples were females. Most cases were married and within the age range of 20-30 years. The prevalence of severe anxiety was reported to be 11.9% and 23.2%, 7.4%, and 57.5% of the subjects showed job burnout respectively in the components of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal inadequacy. It was also revealed that there was a significant relationship between anxiety caused by COVID-19 and burnout.

It was found that there was a significant relationship between corona-caused anxiety and job burnout. According to the high prevalence of such disorders, it is suggested that more attention be paid to hospital staff due to their special role in the treatment of Covid-19.