Predictors of Burnout in Social Workers: The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Scenario for Analysis

The current health crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic increases the stress and anxiety levels in some professions, including social work. The present research aimed to determine the burnout levels of social workers in Spain during the first wave of the pandemic and the predictive variables. The methodological approach used was developed from a quantitative perspective through a simple random sampling from the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) on a sample of Spanish social workers. The results showed high levels of emotional exhaustion (70.1%) and depersonalization (48.5%), although the data related to a reduced sense of personal accomplishment (36.6%) was low. The burnout level was 20.4%, a reduced record considering the values of the first two subscales. In contrast, the logistic regressions carried out showed that teleworking and psychological treatment are predictive variables of emotional exhaustion. With depersonalization, age (41-50 years) and the perception of needing psychological or psychiatric treatment in the future act as predictive variables. In critical scenarios such as a pandemic, work organizations should implement measures to reduce the high percentages of emotional exhaustion, the workload, and the dehumanization of professionals, a consequence linked to depersonalization.

Automated summary

The study shows that social workers in Spain experienced high levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization during the first wave of the pandemic, with a burnout level of 20.4%. Teleworking and psychological treatment are predictive variables of emotional exhaustion, while age (41-50 years) and the perception of needing psychological or psychiatric treatment in the future act as predictive variables of depersonalization.