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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 12 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1387494
This article is part of the Research Topic Cognitive and Mental Health Improvement Under- and Post-COVID-19 View all 30 articles
Does Volunteering Decrease Burnout? Healthcare Professional and Student Perspectives on Burnout and Volunteering
Provisionally accepted- 1 Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, Rochester, United States
- 2 University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States
- 3 David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States
Background: Burnout among healthcare providers is a significant crisis in our healthcare system, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to understand what motivates healthcare workers and students to volunteer in their community as well as examine how volunteering relates to burnout. These findings can help health organizations better meet the needs of healthcare workers, as well as provide insights for non-profits that rely on volunteer professionals. Methods: Healthcare providers (N = 8), graduate healthcare students (N=10), and undergraduate students (N=14) who volunteered at community health fairs completed the OLBI burnout assessment and an individual semi-structured interview to characterize their attitudes toward volunteering and its relationship with burnout. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using a phenomenological approach, comparing themes across levels of burnout among providers and students. Results: Participants described that feeling burnt out decreased one's likelihood to volunteer, but also that volunteering prevented burnout. The OLBI scores showed that 79.2% and 20.8% of students were low and moderately burnt out respectively, and 87.5% and 12.5% of health professionals were low and moderately burnt out respectively. Students volunteered for professional development while healthcare professionals cited a desire for a change in their day-to-day work as a reason to volunteer. Both students and health professionals often volunteered because they wanted to make a difference, it made them feel good, and/or they felt a responsibility to volunteer. COVID-19 had a wide range of effects on burnout and motivations to volunteer.
Keywords: COVID-19, volunteering, burnout, Community Health, Medical Education, physician shortage, Mental Health
Received: 17 Feb 2024; Accepted: 01 May 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Metzger, Nguyen, Le, Havo, Ngo, Lee, Nguyen, Nguyen, Tran, Tong, Le and Dudovitz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Tai Metzger, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, Rochester, United States
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