Emotional labor and burnout among health care providers

This study analysed whether, amongst health care providers in a nursing homes setting, there is a relationship between, on the hand, work demands, autonomy, lack of social support and emotional labor; and on the other hand, symptoms of burnout. It also analysed whether the concept of emotional labor was an additional factor that helped explain variance in burnout over and above the concepts found in the Demand-Control-Support model. The study was based on 130 health care providers (response rate of 75%). Participants filled in a questionnaire that measured the Demand-Control-Support concepts of autonomy, lack of social support and work demands, as well as four dimensions of emotional labor. It assessed burnout in three dimensions, namely emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and personal accomplishment. The results showed a relationship between work demands, social support, several aspects of emotional labor and burnout, whereas no relationship was found between autonomy and burnout. The various concepts, taken together, explained 28 to 30% of the variance in burnout. Emotional labor appeared to be a distinct additional factor in relation to burnout, supplementing the elements found in the Demand-Control-Support model. These results confirm the findings from previous studies in other professions. They demonstrate that, in professions involving a lot of contact with patients, emotional labor may represent a potentially important factor related to health.