Burnout and Its Associated Factors Among Long-Term Care Workers: A Mixed-Methods Study Based on the Social-Ecological...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Occupational Health
• Gerontology

Background:

• Burnout among long-term care workers is a significant public health issue.
• Limited mixed-methods research exists on burnout in China's long-term care sector.
• A Social-Ecological Framework guides the examination of multilevel burnout correlates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the multilevel factors associated with burnout among long-term care workers in China.
• To explore potential buffering resources against burnout using a mixed-methods approach.

Main Methods:

• Convergent mixed-methods design combining quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews.
• Quantitative strand: 494 workers surveyed using two-stage cluster sampling; multivariable linear regression used.
• Qualitative strand: 15 workers interviewed; thematic analysis of transcripts.

Main Results:

• High prevalence of burnout: 30.77% mild, 33.00% moderate, 17.00% severe.
• Burnout dimensions correlated with gender, age, marital status, employment, institution type, training, caregiver burden, and policy recognition (p < 0.05).
• Qualitative data identified cognitive adaptation, emotional reciprocity, organizational support, and policy recognition as protective factors.

Conclusions:

• Burnout in long-term care is influenced by factors across individual, organizational, and policy levels.
• Interventions should focus on enhancing training, reducing care burden, improving policy recognition, and valuing care work.
• Further longitudinal or intervention studies are needed to validate these findings and strategies.