Twenty percent of nursing home employees suffered from burnout or depression

One in five employees in a nursing home suffers from symptoms of depression or burnout. This has emerged from a study by the University Network for Elderly Care of the UMCG.

Almost half of the respondents to a large-scale survey said they worked more hours during the first corona wave. Many non-healthcare workers were also asked to participate in healthcare. Healthcare workers also had to receive services from sick employees or work in a corona ward.

The survey therefore shows that a third of the respondents cared for COVID-19 infected residents. 27 percent of employees have been tested for COVID-19, six percent became infected. Depression symptoms were most common among this group of employees. “This group indicates that they experience extra psychological burden when caring for infected residents. The care for infected residents is very protocolized, which means that care providers have fewer opportunities to carry out the work in their own way ”, says lead researcher Sarah Janus of the UMCG.

In addition to the UMCG, the University Network for the Care sector South Holland of the LUMC also participated in a large-scale survey about the health and well-being of nursing home employees during the first corona wave.

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