ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Rachel Willard-Grace, MPH; Eric McNey; Beatrice Huang; Kevin Grumbach, MD
Corresponding Author: Rachel Willard-Grace, MPH; Center for Excellence in Primary Care, Department of Family & Community Medicine, University of California San Francisco
Email: Rachel.Willard@ucsf.edu
DOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2024.240011R1
Keywords: Burnout, Caregivers, Emotional Exhaustion, Linear Models, Longitudinal Studies, Primary Health Care, Qualitative Research, Surveys and Questionnaires, Workforce
Dates: Submitted: 01-11-2024; Revised: 03-18-2024; Accepted: 03-25-2024
FINAL PUBLICATION: |HTML| |PDF|
BACKGROUND: Health care workers with responsibilities caring for dependent adults or children outside of work may be particularly vulnerable to burnout. We examined the relationship between gender, caregiving, and burnout among primary care clinicians and staff in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
METHODS: Longitudinal cohort study using survey data collected in February 2020 and May 2021 from primary care clinicians and staff in a university-based health system. The association between gender, caregiving hours, and perceived workplace support for caregiving responsibilities on the outcome of emotional exhaustion was tested using linear models with fixed effects.
RESULTS: Respondents included 336 clinicians and staff, with 77% identifying as female. Female clinicians reported greater emotional exhaustion than male clinicians in 2021. Female gender, more caregiving hours, and lower workplace support were associated with higher clinician burnout. In longitudinal analysis for clinicians, hours of caregiving but not work supportiveness was associated with an increase in emotional exhaustion from 2020-2021. For staff, supportiveness of the workplace for caregiving responsibilities, but not gender or caregiving hours, was associated with lower exhaustion in 2021 and was protective against increased exhaustion from 2020-2021.
CONCLUSIONS: Beyond the acute stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring the sustainability of a healthcare workforce that shoulders caregiving responsibility requires policies and operational models that adequately support workers with high caregiving responsibilities and work supports that encourage workers to take full advantage of the accommodations for which they are eligible.