A Qualitative Reexamination of the Key Features of Burnout

Abstract

Burnout is generally defined as a triad of emotional exhaustion, lack of empathy, and reduced professional accomplishment constructs. We sought to determine in an exploratory, qualitative study whether these three constructs adequately represent burnout. Participants who self-identified as experiencing burnout completed a questionnaire that asked about their experiences of the condition. A qualitative thematic analysis was undertaken to determine the primary symptom constructs nominated by participants. The thematic analysis resulted in 12 symptom clusters or “themes” being identified as putative burnout features, with several of these themes overlapping with features identified in our independent quantitative analysis. Although we found emotional exhaustion, lack of empathy, and reduced professional accomplishment to be commonly nominated symptoms of burnout, the distinctive presence of several additional themes suggests that the burnout syndrome comprises a broader set of symptom constructs than those currently accepted as the defining features of the condition.