Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jan 25;18(3):1064.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18031064.

Burnout, Psychological Capital and Health during COVID-19 Social Isolation: A Longitudinal Analysis

Mariano Meseguer de Pedro  1 , María Magdalena Fernández-Valera  2 , Mariano García-Izquierdo  1 , María Isabel Soler Sánchez  1
Affiliations
Free PMC article

Burnout, Psychological Capital and Health during COVID-19 Social Isolation: A Longitudinal Analysis

Mariano Meseguer de Pedro et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .
Free PMC article

Abstract

Background: Drawing on the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic and its sanitary measures on coping strategies for preserving health, it is also necessary to add exposure to certain work stressors, such as burnout. The aim of the study was to assess the influence of the confinement situation caused by COVID-19 on the levels of self-perceived health and psychological capital in a sample of workers, as well as to analyze whether exposure to burnout before social isolation would help to explain the levels of health and psychological capital.

Methods: Data were collected in a longitudinal design. Time 1 surveys (December 2019) were sent to a sample of 354 Spanish workers while in Time 2 (April 2020) the employees completed 235 questionnaires.

Results: Our findings indicate a significant worsening of employees' health perception (t = -4.13; p < 0.01) and psychological capital (4.10, p < 0.01) levels during mandatory confinement in Spain. Our results also revealed that emotional exhaustion is the only burnout dimension capable of explaining the variance of health while self-efficacy does regarding psychological capital.

Conclusion: We conclude a significant reduction in self-perceived health and psychological capital during COVID-19 mandatory confinement, and that burnout acts as a predictor variable in both health and psychological capital variance.

Keywords: COVID-19 social isolation; burnout; psychological capital; self-perceived health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. World Health Organization WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard. [(accessed on 13 January 2021)]; Available online: https://covid19.who.int/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA9P__BRC0ARIsAEZ6irh_lCfUwWkjTuky2....
    1. International Labor Office ILO Monitor: COVID-19 and the World of Work. Sixth Edition Updated Estimates and Analysis. [(accessed on 13 January 2021)];2020 Available online: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents....
    1. Brooks S.K., Webster R.K., Smith L.E., Woodland L., Wessely S., Greenberg N., Rubin G.J. The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: Rapid review of the evidence. Lancet. 2020;395:912–920. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30460-8. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fiorillo A., Gorwood P. The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and implications for clinical practice. Eur. Psychiatry. 2020;63:1–4. doi: 10.1192/j.eurpsy.2019.3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Shigemura J., Ursano R.J., Kurosawa M., Morganstein J.C., Benedek D.M. Understanding the traumatic experiences of healthcare workers responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurs. Health Sci. 2020 doi: 10.1111/nhs.12766. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources