Examination of health care workers' burnout and depression levels during the COVID-19 pandemic period

The Covid 19 pandemic has affected Turkey as well as the whole world. During the pandemic process, the whole society was affected both physiologically and psychologically, but health workers were the most deeply affected segment. With this study, it was aimed to determine the depression and burnout levels of healthcare workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the pandemic process, data were collected online. Personal information form, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Masclash Burnout Inventory (MBI) were used to collect data. The universe of the research is all health workers in Turkey; The sample consists of health workers who volunteer to participate by being announced from social media WhatsApp groups. The research was carried out according to the relational screening model, one of the general screening models. Of the participants, 147 (72.8%) were female and 55 (27.2) were male. After the Covid-19 pandemic, it is seen that there has been an increase in the number of health personnel who have both symptoms of depression and a feeling of burnout. The mean score of the participants was 14.18±9.506 for BDI and 35.33±12.578 for MBI. Female participants had higher scores in the MBI emotional exhaustion dimension than males (17.99±7.717>14.38±7.783), and a significant difference was found between them (p=.004). BDI scores of those who were previously diagnosed with depression (17.40±10.364) were higher than those who did not (13.73±9.320), but no significant difference was found between them (p≥0.05). Those who had previously been diagnosed with depression scored significantly higher on both the MBI and the emotional exhaustion sub-dimension compared to those who did not (p=.020; p=.003). The BDI and MBI scores of the participants whose working hours increased during the pandemic process were significantly higher than those whose working hours did not increase (p=.000; p=.011). Considering the relationship between the scales, it was determined that there was a positive relationship between BDI and MBI (r=.571; p=.000). As a result of the study, it can be said that depression symptoms and burnout levels of health personnel increase with the increase in working hours during the pandemic period. For this reason, it is recommended to provide psychological support to health personnel during the pandemic process.