Occupational burnout has become a pervasive problem in human services. Medical professionals are particularly vulnerable to burnout, which may lead to reduced motivation, medical errors, and voluntary absenteeism. To ensure effect functioning of medical systems, better understanding of burnout among medical professionals is warranted.

We aimed to investigate the structural brain correlates of burnout severity among medical professionals.

Nurses in active service underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging. We assessed their burnout severity using self-reported psychological questionnaires. This study was approved by the Committee on Medical Ethics of Kyoto University and was conducted in accordance with the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association.

The results reflected considerable individual differences in burnout severity in our sample. Our findngs revealed that the levels of burnout severity were associated with the regional gray matter volumes in brain areas such as ventromedial prefrontal cortex and insula.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, medical professionals have faced even greater stress. We hope that our findings will contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms of burnout and offer useful insights for developing effective interventions to manage stress and burnout.

No significant relationships.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the need to fight it disrupt the balance between work and rest for health workers that can lead to a decrease in stress tolerance and emotional burnout appearance. The lifestyle and well-being of personal and family life can be both a “depletion” and a “resource” factor for health professionals when working under stressful conditions.

To study the presence/absence and severity of burnout symptoms in medical professionals in the COVID-19 pandemic context; to investigate the interaction between burnout severity and overall stress levels, family well-being, and the presence of children.

The author’s socio-demographic questionnaire, Stress Perception Questionnaire (Linville, 1987), modified Pandemic Perception Questionnaire (Broadbent et al.,2006), Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach et al.^1996), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger et al., 1983) were used. The study was conducted online from April 27 to October 26. It involved 249 medical workers, including 58 men and 191 women.

Health workers who have children show greater confidence in their professional competence(41.28±6.3vs39±7;p=0.007) and (at the trend level) have a lower level of exhaustion(34.53 ±9.2vs36.71±10.8;p=0.09) than their colleagues without children. Although health workers in both groups have approximately the same scores for perceived stress, however, those with children put less effort to counteract stress(9.31±2.5vs10.19±2.9;p=0.012). They describe the pandemic as less dangerous compared to colleagues who do not have children(15.4±5.7vs16.7±5.1;p=0.042).

Perhaps the very possibility of switching attention from a vitally dangerous topic to more positive aspects of life allows medical staff who have children to feel less exhausted and maintain faith in their own strength.

Burnout has become a critical issue in health care systems during the COVID-19 pandemic. Several studies report on the importance of peoples’ sense of coherence (SOC) or control over work for dealing with burnout. SOC implicates a stress-coping capacity involving comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness. However, little is known on how SOC cognitively modulates burnout experiences.

To investigate neurocognitive mechanisms of SOC and burnout in medical professionals.

Forty-one registered nurses were enrolled. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging and measured resting-state brain activity. We identified brain regions associated with SOC and burnout levels by correlating these trait scores to regional fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (fALFF). Subsequently, we investigated whether participants’ levels of SOC impacted their fALFF-burnout association by mediation analysis.

SOC and depersonalization dimension of burnout were negatively correlated (p < 0.01). The fALFF in the mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) correlated positively with SOC scores, and negatively with depersonalization dimension of burnout (p < 0.05). Furthermore, SOC mediated the negative relationship between DLPFC activity and burnout severity (p < 0.05).

Our data suggested that SOC alleviates burnout experience and supports prefrontal activity to prompt cognitive control; they may facilitate flexible shifting of perspective and optimistic reappraisal of work-stress. In effect, workplace-stressors may be acknowledged as being more meaningful than distressing. Without sufficient SOC, frequent exposures to stressors can lead to maladaptive coping to exhibit emotional numbing or depersonalization.

No significant relationships.

The aim of this study was to investigate the influences of sociodemographic data, mental disorder history, confusion and somatic discomfort triggered by social media on anxiety and depression symptoms among medical professionals during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.

A total of 460 participants completed online questionnaires that included sociodemographic data, mental health disorder history, an assessment of confusion and somatic discomfort triggered by social media, and psychological disturbance. Hierarchical linear regression model was adopted to analysis the data.

The hierarchical linear regression model was able to explain 41.7% of variance in depression symptoms, including comorbidity with 1 mental disorder (B = 0.296; P < 0.001), confusion (B = 0.174; P < 0.001), and somatic discomfort (B = 0.358; P < 0.001) triggered by social media. The hierarchical linear regression model was able to explain 41.7% of variance in anxiety symptoms, including sex (B = -0.08; P < 0.005), comorbidity with 1 mental health disorder (B = 0.242; P < 0.001), confusion (B = 0.228; P < 0.001), and somatic discomfort (B = 0.436; P < 0.001) triggered by social media.

These results suggest that it is important to provide adequate psychological assistance for medical professionals with mental health problems in COVID-19 to buffer the negative impact of social media.