Forgotten Heroes: Experiences of Health Care Support Workers Regarding Burnout and Resilience during Pandemic, A Qualitative Approach

María Fernanda Valera-Hernández, Luisa Arenas-Pérez, Isabella Fernandez-Capriles, Felipe Omaña-Paipilla, Francisco Palencia-Sánchez, Yazmin Cadena-Camargo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objectives Health care support workers have been facing several challenges due to the stressful environment in COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the gap in literature, it is mandatory to explore their experiences to identify burnout, predisposing factors, and possible interventions. Methods We conducted qualitative research with a hermeneutic phenomenological method. Participants belonged to cleaning services, security, and hospital administration areas at a hospital in Bogotá. We used semistructured individual interviews. The analysis approaches were deductive and inductive. Results As main concepts, we found the following: fear of infection and coping mechanisms, dealing with COVID-19 and being part of the health care support system, overwhelming workload and motivation to keep going and socioeconomic conditions. Conclusions We found burnout predisposing factors; however, the participants did not express symptoms of burnout syndrome. We believe protective factors such as resilience are influential concerning this outcome.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)E839-E844
JournalJournal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
Volume64
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - 01 Dec 2022

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • burnout
  • health care support workers
  • pandemic
  • resilience

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