Professional Burnout as a Mediator in the Relationship Between Pandemic-Related Stress and Social Care Workers’ Mental Health

Abstract Understanding pathways between social care workers’ Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19)-related stress and poorer mental health outcomes can inform employers’ efforts to support the well-being of staff. The present study engaged 103 workers at an Irish Non-Government Organisation providing child and family support services. In the initial months following the cessation of pandemic restrictions in 2022, they completed an anonymous online survey that included questions about their experiences of COVID-19, their professional quality of life and their mental health. The aim was to explore the direct effect of COVID-related stress on workers’ mental health, and the indirect effect through the mediators of compassion satisfaction and the compassion fatigue components of burnout and secondary traumatic stress. The results indicated that greater levels of pandemic stress are significantly and directly related to both increased burnout and poorer mental health, and that burnout also partially mediates the relationship between pandemic stress and poorer mental health. This study adds to a growing body of work concerned to better understand the social care workers’ pandemic experiences, and results are discussed in terms of apprising employers of the need for timely and effective staff supports.