Examining the evidence base for burnout

Authors

Renzo Bianchi, Norwegian University of Science and TechnologyFollow
Irvin Sam Schonfeld, CUNY Graduate CenterFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1-2023

Abstract

Burnout has elicited growing interest among occupational health specialists in recent decades. Since 2019, the World Health Organization has characterized burnout as a syndrome resulting from chronic, unmanageable workplace stress. According to the ICD-11, three symptoms define the entity: feelings of exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job, and a sense of ineffectiveness at work, all of which correspond to the structure of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The ICD-11 includes burnout among the factors that influence health status. This paper calls into question that conceptualization based on a number of lines of evidence. The evidence includes the following: burnout was predefined before systematic, replicable research on the construct was conducted; the symptom picture is clinically and theoretically ill-founded; and because of the high correlation of the exhaustion core of burnout with depressive symptoms, the burnout label can mask a serious depressive condition.

Comments

Bianchi, R., & Schonfeld, I. S. (2023). Examining the evidence base for burnout. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 101, 743-745. http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.23.289996