Mental Health Workplace Burnout Research

One of the articles addresses intensive care unit nurses experiencing a lot of stress and posttraumatic stress disorder. It also discusses burnout related to high mortality and ethical dilemmas in the work environment. Having high resilience is one protective factor that leads to better job satisfaction. Those nurses that have high resilience are less likely to experience burnout and dissatisfaction. Resilience can be learned and this article examines a 12-week, randomized, controlled study that was done using multimodal interventions to increase resilience. First, participants were tested for resilience using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. Those that had a score less than 82 were not resilient and continued with the study. Participants in the control and intervention groups were given surveys including the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). The intervention group first attended a two-day workshop where they learned expressive writing and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). Participants practiced expressive writing based on prompts sent to them each week. They received a gym membership with suggestions for exercises and amount of time to spend on them. Then, the participants used an audio disc they received to guide them with MBSR. They also received

CMHA recognizes that providing an emotionally safe work environment can improve workplace productivity by providing employers with strategies in recognizing mental illness in employees (CMHA, 2017). Although the CMHA does not directly refer to nurses, the workplace resources can be effective within the nursing profession. Notably, through their interactive workshops, management training and in person advisors (CMHA, 2017). Nurse managers should be encouraged to take the training courses provided to improve awareness and responding skills when dealing with mental illness. In fact, these courses should be mandatory to help provide an emotionally safe workplace for

Burnout is defined as an internal psychological experience that involves feelings, attitudes, motives and expectations. Burnout means the energy of an individual has been consumed by helping others. Energy crisis occurs when the psychic demand exceeds the supply. Burnout is often experienced with a state of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion caused by a long-term involvement within an emotionally demanding situation. Burnout is often accompanied by physical depletion, feelings of helplessness, disillusionment, negative self-concept and negative attitudes toward employment, people and life in itself. Burnout represents a breaking point where it’s hard for an individual to cope with the environment surrounding them. Compassion fatigue is often caused by a work related stress and it is also an increase of loss in compassion over a period of time. Compassion fatigue can share similar

As with any career, human service professionals face potential challenges that make it difficult for them to accomplish the objectives of their positions. When challenged with these obstacles, it becomes increasingly difficult for the human service professional to deliver the outstanding help and care a client needs. One such challenge is that of burnout, a reaction to the stress and strain inherent in a position that causes individuals to adopt a negative attitude about work and clients as well as become detached with the expectations of their position and its overall purpose (Woodside & McClam, 2015, p. 256). There are also physical reactions to burnout, including exhaustion, stomach issues or other illnesses, and body pain (Woodside & McClam, 2015, p. 256). This burnout can be triggered by a number of different factors, from difficulties in allocating scarce resources (Woodside & McClam, 2015, p. 249) and motivating clients to help themselves (Woodside & McClam, 2015, p. 256), to self-neglect on the part of the helper (Jackson, 2014).

Forming an understanding of fatigue and burnout on the job of delivering commodities cross-country is the focus herein. The discoveries from research conducted on fatigue have provided insight into additional concerns regarding the health of humanity. The process and development of how fatigue relates to the personal self when working under conditions of exertion are very important.

Illness, disease, and trauma constantly and continuously affect people all over the world. Everyday, people are placed in hospitals, diagnosed with cancer, injured in war, devastated by a natural disaster, involved in a car wreck, and lose loved ones. People in these circumstances require help. They have to have someone caring for them in this difficult and stressful time in their lives. Those who are involved in patient care include doctors, nurses, therapists, rescue workers, and family members. Providing care for people is by no means an easy job. It requires mental and physical strength, intelligence, compassion, empathy, and organizational and time management skills. These are necessary qualities for caregivers to have in order to cope with caring for people who are suffering. Caregivers are confronted with anguish, negativity, depression, and defiance on a daily basis. This places copious amounts of physical and emotional stress on them, and caregivers also have the added stress of their personal life and family (Portnoy 2011). Those who are involved in patient care suffer as much as the patients do. The “cost of caring” is that these caregivers end up experiencing burnout. In medical terms, burnout is defined as the “emotional and physical exhaustion resulting from a combination of exposure to environmental and internal stressors and inadequate coping and adaptive skills” (Burnout). Along with exhaustion, “the person with burnout exhibits an increasingly

People may think mindfulness is a fad but it still has two strong goals that can provide a medical purpose which include facilitating good well being among co workers and medical staff, and more efficient healing with the patients (Hutchinson 2009).

Occupational stress causes emotional and oft times harmful response to the demands of the activity of mental health nursing and the nurse’s emotional capability. The environments in which mental health nurses are employed often generate high levels of stress due to the nature of the consumers being treated therein. Stress related disorders do occur among all nurses, in various hospital departments and in community nursing, but in particular amongst mental health nurses even though they are trained specifically to cope with this phenomenon. Unfortunately the presence of high levels of stress in a mental nurse’s everyday working life may lead to emotional withdrawal and the development of the insidious burnout syndrome which may not be recognised immediately by the affected nurse.

Our fundamental goal for this group experience is to share experiences, to share tools, and to share similarities for building resilience in burnout prevention. To honor those in the helping field, inspired by the fact that their mental health is often neglected and not prioritized in society. To raise the emotional intelligence of our helping professionals and prevent burnout.

Mackenzie, C. S., Poulin, P. A., & Seidman-Carlson, R. (2006). A brief mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention for nurses and nurse aides. Applied Nursing Research,19(2), 105-109. DOI: 10.1016/j.apnr.2005.08.002

Mental Health as described by LaVeist and Thomas (2005) is “a state of successful performance of mental function, resulting in productive activities, fulfilling relationships with other people, and the ability to adapt to change and cope with adversity” (p. 84). Mental health functioning is important regarding a person’s well-being, being able to interact with others in a healthy manner, and contributes many things to

Research around the construct of mindfulness has exploded in the past few decades. Even though mindfulness is increasingly being incorporated in many modern day psychotherapeutic approaches and daily lives, it is still unclear as to how and why it has its many beneficial effects on a range of physical and psychological health variables. This study was undertaken to explore two possible mediators of the mindfulness-mental health relationship, namely decentering and nonattachment. Because of the nascent stage of this research and previous mixed findings obtained in the area, the authors took a more exploratory approach in investigating this mediation.

This changing focus in burnout research from an exclusively negative approach to the erosion of a positive psychological state coincides with the emergence of Positive Psychology. Quite symbolically at the brink of the new millennium, in January 2000, a special issue of the American Psychologist sparked interest in Positive Psychology. In that issue, its most prominent advocates, Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000, p. 5), stated that the purpose of Positive Psychology “. . .is to begin to catalyze a change in the focus of psychology from pre-occupation only with repairing the worst things in life to also building positive qualities”. After less than a decade, positive psychology is thriving, including the field of positive occupational behavior, which is defined as “.

There is a lot to be said about occupational stress, burnout and work satisfaction. However, finding the ideal career field can be a challenging task all by itself, and even more difficult with the pressures of financial hardships. As a result, some people may not have the luxury to concern themselves with obtaining employment that offers work satisfaction. Then again, a person may only be interested in making a good honest living, getting the bills paid and enjoying a reasonable lifestyle. Others may happen to enjoy going to work everyday, regardless of their pay because they feel that what they do makes a difference and that brings them overall fulfillment. (Harper & Leicht, 2011). Due to working in

Lanham, Rye, Rimsky, and Weill (2012) conducted a study on how gratitude relates to burnout and job satisfaction in mental health professionals. Sixty-five mental health professionals including; counselors, case managers, clinical administrators/supervisors, employment/housing specialists, social workers, and psychologists completed questionnaires assessing demographics, job context variables, hope, gratitude, burnout, and job satisfaction. Lanham, Rye, Rimsky and Weill (2012) stated that mental health professionals are at high risk of burnout and turnover. Burnout which results from persistent work stress, involves emotional exhaustion (mental strain attributed to job Stressors), depersonalization (mentally distancing oneself and adopting a more impersonal view of other people), and decreased sense of