Burnout Contagion Among General Practitioners

This study used a representative sample of 507 general practitioners (GPs) to test the hypothesis that burnout is contagious. Following a two-dimensional conceptualization of burnout, it is assumed that burnout is comprised of emotional exhaustion and negative attitudes (i.e., depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment). We hypothesized that perceived burnout complaints among colleagues and susceptibility to emotional contagion would make an independent contribution to explaining variance in negative attitudes through their influence on emotional exhaustion. The findings of a series of LISREL-analyses support this burnout contagion model. In addition, susceptibility to the emotions expressed by others had a moderating effect on the relationship between perceived burnout complaints among colleagues and individual GPs' emotional exhaustion: Burnout contagion was most pronounced among those GPs who were, in general, highly susceptible to emotional stimuli. These findings, as well as possible routes to burnout contagion are discussed in terms of recent theoretical work on emotional contagion.