Between suffering and coping: burnout in female medical doctors in South Africa

Rudolf M Oosthuizen; Keitumetse Mashego; Claude-Hélène Mayer

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1161740

Between suffering and coping: burnout in female medical doctors in South Africa

Front Psychol. 2023 Jun 5:14:1161740. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1161740. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Rudolf M Oosthuizen¹, Keitumetse Mashego¹, Claude-Hélène Mayer²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Industrial Psychology, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa.
² Department of Industrial Psychology and People Management, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Abstract

Burnout is described as emotional and physical exhaustion, reduced accomplishment, together with an outlook of inadequacy and cynicism related to job stress. It has a harmful impact globally, especially in developing countries, such as South Africa. This study is a phenomenological collective case study focusing on burnout experience in a sample of female medical doctors working in a South African public hospital. Based on ongoing explorations of burnout themes, empirically based intervention strategies are needed to be developed and presented for the South African public health sector to prevent stress-related burnout. The findings support the trend in literature that burnout is an overwhelming experience for female medical doctors in South Africa. The study presents voices of female medical doctors, their concerns, the causes for burnout and their coping mechanisms. It provides a strong contribution to exploring and presenting women's experiences in working in the medical field in South Africa from a positive psychology perspective. The findings indicate the struggles and the coping mechanisms of female medical doctors working in the field.

Keywords: South African public hospital; burnout; coping; developing countries; female medical doctors.