Burnout of the seafarers - a systematic review of burnout in the maritime sector

Seafaring is a strenuous profession, involving prolonged periods of isolation and a high workload in an unpredictable workplace. These factors contribute to increasing development of burnout in seafarers, a significant problem in this group, with moderate to severe emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and reduced personal performance. Despite the impact on mental health, burnout has not yet been systematically investigated. The aim of this systematic review is to examine, analyze, and evaluate the quality of the literature on burnout in the maritime industry. We searched various databases for articles until May 2023 and screened 1058 titles; 12 articles were included in the review. Peer-reviewed English articles dealing with seafarers and the assessment of burnout were included in the review. The results showed that job demands, lack of support, and unfavorable working conditions increase the risk of burnout in sea-farers. Burnout has a negative impact on psychological and physical well-being, job satisfaction, and work engagement, while psychological capital has a positive impact on burnout. Burnout plays a mediating role between work-family conflict (WFC) and job satisfaction, and between psychological capital and both psy-chological wellbeing and safety behavior. These findings emphasize the importance of addressing burnout to promote the well-being and work performance of seafarers.