Burnout in Brazilian Women Working from Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Motherhood

This article examines the relationship between burnout and working from home (WFH) during the COVID-19 pandemic, with particular focus on the experiences of Brazilian women who are mothers. Burnout is a state of chronic stress characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. Previous research has shown that WFH may be associated with lower levels of physical and mental well-being and higher levels of perceived stress and burnout. Mothers may be more vulnerable to burnout due to increased childcare responsibilities and the persistence of traditional gender roles. Thus, this cross-sectional, on-line study aimed to evaluate the relationship between burnout and motherhood among home-office workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Burnout was evaluated using the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, a self-report scale that measures Personal Burnout (PB), Work-related Burnout (WB) and Client-related Burnout (CB). We included 196 women: 85 were mothers, and 69 lived with their children. Mothers who lived with children younger than 12 years old had higher levels of PB (p < 0.001) and WB (p = 0.001) when compared to mothers who lived with older children or non-mothers. Multiple linear regression analyses found that an increase in childcare load predicted higher levels of all three types of burnout (PB: beta = 0.32, p < 0.05; WB: beta = 0.33, p < 0.05; CB: beta = 0.42, p < 0.001), while an increase in workload only predicted higher work-related burnout (PB: beta = 0.18, p = 0.204; WB: beta = 0.35, p < 0.05; CB: beta = -0.02, p = 0.877). These results call for greater attention to the mental health of mothers who work from home, especially those with younger children.