Factors influencing fatigue, mental workload and burnout among Chinese health care workers during public emergencies: an online cross-sectional study

The purpose of this study was to investigate fatigue, mental workload, and burnout among health care workers (HCWs) and explore the possible underlying factors.

An online cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data from HCWs in Chongqing, China. The online survey included the Fatigue Severity Scale, NASA Task Load Index, and Chinese version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey to assess fatigue, mental workload, and burnout, respectively, and was conducted from February 1 to March 1, 2023.

In this study, the incidence of fatigue and burnout among HCWs was 76.40% and 89.14%, respectively, and the incidence of moderate to intolerable mental workloads was 90.26%. Work–family conflict, current symptoms, number of days of COVID-19 positivity, mental workload, burnout and reduced personal accomplishment were significantly associated with fatigue. Mental workload was affected by fatigue and reduced personal accomplishment. Furthermore, burnout was influenced by marital status and fatigue. Moreover, there was a correlation among mental workload, fatigue, and burnout.

Fatigue, mental workload and burnout had a high incidence and were influenced by multiple factors during COVID-19 public emergencies in China.