Introduction
All people experience stress in all levels in their daily lives. Usually, there are some ways to deal with stress which allow people from recover and relax from these forms of stress. However, some stress factors take a long-term toll on the person in itself, especially if the stress is due to some work-related factors. This particular type of situation is called a burnout, and it is defined as a mental, physical, and emotional association that is associated with work (“Burnout”, n.d.)
Some types of work have a greater chance of burnout than others. This is especially true in work that require constant social interaction, such as medical and emergency-related occupations. One of the jobs wherein worker burnout is heavily observed is the field of social care. Because of long hours dealing with patients, especially one who does not know how to generally take care of himself or herself, a social worker or caretaker may feel fatigued and exhausted. It is noted that on average, caretakers have 20 hours of unpaid time every week and most of them are not getting enough sleep. These and more contribute to the increased rates of burnout among these patients (“Signs of Caregiver Burnout and How to Prevent It”, n.d.)
Burnout is different from compassion fatigue—the former is stress and exhaustion brought about by long hours of work, while the latter refers to the burden placed upon those who work in the social area, resulting in reduced empathy toward their suffering in the long run due to having experienced many of them (Scheidegger, 2015). However, both are similar due to the fact that they involve some form of alienation in the job process, and both are a result of stressful factors in the workplace.
Burnout Interview
In order to determine the first-hand effects of burnout among caretakers as well as to know how they deal with burnout, I interviewed one of them and asked her how she copes with the stress she faces in her job daily. The name of my respondent is Marife, a Filipino caretaker residing in Canada. She is currently taking care of an elderly patient for long hours per week. As a caretaker, she displays the typical signs of a burnout. Regarding her physical appearance, she looks tired and weary; she has eye bags which may indicate lack of sleep. She also forces a strained smile occasionally in the interview process, and her demeanor, while friendly, suggests a feeling of weariness.
She is aware that she herself has been feeling a state of burnout from time to time. She admitted that even though taking care of others seems to be her passion, it has gotten to the point that she feels tired and sluggish from time to time. She has reported additional symptoms of burnout—sometimes, she does not feel engaged or attached to her job at all, and this in itself reduces her performance. In addition, she sometimes has trouble pitying to the plight of her patients—a symptom of compassion fatigue in itself. Moreover, she reported that her job and the stress it causes has taken a significant strain on her emotional, mental, and physical well-being. Nonetheless, she is learning to cope with it.
She told that her most memorable experience of burnout was when she was asked to take care of her patient during a particular time when the patient was feeling cranky and unwell. No amount of positive interactions with the patient could alleviate the latter’s uncooperativeness. That, and the fact that she was not getting enough sleep, led to an intense feeling of weariness, tiredness, helplessness, and the sudden urge to quit at that very moment. At that time, she asked herself if even all her sacrifices were worth it. Fortunately, she pushed through and the patient returned to normal soon after. As she as she got home that day, she pampered herself with a long hot bath and took a long sleep.
Based from these, it can be inferred that Marife displays the general signs of a burnout. She felt exhausted due to stress. In addition, she also felt alienated in her work environment, which contributed to her low performance. She also questioned the meaning of her work, which is typical especially when the burnout experienced is severe.
She explained that the circumstances surrounding her life and her workplace probably contributed in major part of the said feeling. At that time, she was feeling very lonely because she had not seen her family in a very long time due to her work, which was not helped by the fact that the holidays were approaching during that time. At the same time, there was increased stress in the workplace due to the busy atmosphere of the upcoming holidays. Her financial status during that time was not looking good as well—she was running low on money and yet she needed to send some amount back home as well. Looking back at the moment, she thinks that she could have handled that particular burnout much better if she was rested well and was feeling emotionally calm. She also added that if she knew how to handle stress effectively during that time, she could have fared better as well.
Nowadays, she reports that there are still feelings of exhaustion and weariness from time to time, but she is now aware of what burnout does to her body. Thus, she is taking steps in order to alleviate it. She now makes sure she gets plenty of sleep and she also takes care of her body as much as possible. She takes part in leisurely activities during her off days so that she could experience relaxation time for herself. he also takes a break from her job whenever possible in order to diffuse the stress a bit. In order to keep her emotional spirits high, she regularly communicates with her relatives back home. In addition, she is also quite happy now that her sons have migrated to Canada in order to keep her company. She may still experience stress and burnout from time to time, but they occur less frequently now that she is now learning to take care of herself.
She also advises the same thing to workers who feel that they experience burnout—to take care of themselves, and allow themselves to recover every now and then. Being a caretaker, she tells that the company she has been working on advises their workers to take care of themselves in order to prevent both burnout and compassion fatigue. They also make sure that the homes in which their nurses are assigned on have a healthy environment as possible. She notes that even if they are caretakers, they are human too and they also need help from time to time. It is not wrong to call for help, especially in times of stress.
References
“Burnout” (n.d.). Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/burnout
“Signs of caregiver burnout and how to prevent it” (n.d.). VITAS Healthcare. Retrieved from https://www.vitas.com/resources/caregiving/signs-of-caregiver-burnout
Scheidegger, J. (2015). Burnout, compassion fatigue, depression—what’s the difference? DVM360 Magazine. Retrieved from http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/burnout-compassion-fatigue-depression-what-s-difference
