Resource Depletion of Healthcare Workers During Pandemic

COVID-19 has created increased demands for healthcare workers. They are not only at high risk of getting the virus, but they also experience high levels of stress and work demands. However, research has yet to examine the psychological and emotional impacts of the pandemic on healthcare workers.

Research in the Journal of Applied Psychology explored this topic. The research team administered surveys to healthcare workers during and before the pandemic. The results of the research revealed that the intensity of involvement at work during the pandemic was related to higher emotional exhaustion. “Exposure to self,” a dimension of job involvement that refers to exposure to COVID-10, was associated with higher levels of emotional exhaustion and depression.

The research also revealed that the relationship between involvement and emotional exhaustion was stronger for individuals with higher prosocial motivation. Prosocial motivation is tendency to focus on helping others. The researchers hypothesize that prosocial motivation makes this relationship stronger because those who are prosocially motivated feel more pressure to care for others before addressing their own needs.

Caldas, M. P., Ostermeier, K., & Cooper, D. (2020). When helping hurts: COVID-19 critical incident involvement and resource depletion in health care workers. Journal of Applied Psychology. Advance online publication.