Evaluation of Sleep Quality and Burnout Levels of Research Assistants During COVID-19 Period

Abstract

Objective: During pandemic periods that affect most of the population, the people on the front lines are healthcare workers and therefore their risk of being physically and psychologically affected is much higher than the normal population. This study aimed to evaluate the sleep quality and burnout level of research assistants working at Selçuk University Faculty of Medicine during the COVID-19 period.

Methods: The study included 378 research assistants at Selçuk University Faculty of Medicine between 15.02.2021 and 14.06.2021, including 337 people who actively worked in the pandemic and 41 people who did not take part in the pandemic. Those who were on maternity leave, those who were specialists, those who left the university, Those who did not volunteer were not included in the study. The Sociodemographic Information Form consisting of 57 questions, the Maslach Burnout Scale and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Scale were applied in the survey, which was applied via face-to-face interview or online method.

Results: Of the 378 research assistants in the study, 49.7% were women and 50.3% were men, the median age was 28, and 5% worked in Basic Medical Sciences, 60.9% in Internal Medicine Sciences, 34% in Internal Medicine. 1 of them was working in Surgical Medical Sciences. The median daily working time of research assistants was 9 hours, and the median weekly working time was 75 hours. The median nightly sleep duration of research assistants was 6.5 hours, and 54% slept less than 7 hours. Those whose daily working hours were over 8 hours and those whose weekly working hours were over 45 hours had worse sleep quality and higher burnout scores (p<0.001). As emotional exhaustion and depersonalization scores increased, sleep quality worsened (p<0.001). While working in the pandemic did not affect sleep quality, it was found to increase emotional exhaustion and depersonalization scores (p=0.686, p=0.038, p<0.001).

Conclusion: In this study, it was determined that taking part in the pandemic increased burnout subscale scores. It was found that as daily and weekly working hours increased, research assistants’ sleep quality worsened and their burnout scores were higher. It was determined that as research assistants’ sleep quality worsened, their burnout subscale scores increased.