Mindfulness improves health worker's occupational burnout: the moderating effects of anxiety and depression

Objective This study aims to test whether health workers experiencing both depression, anxiety and burnout would show severer burnout symptoms, and the potential moderating effect of anxiety and depression on mindfulness improving burnout. Methods This study was conducted in a comprehensive hospital of China in 2016. A total of 924 healthcare professionals were included in this cross-sectional study with a response rate of 82.0%. Maslach Burnout Inventory, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Perceived Stress Scale and Short Inventory of Mindfulness Capability were used to measure burnout, depression, anxiety, perceived stress and mindfulness. Univariate analysis, correlation analysis, mediation analysis and moderated mediation analysis were conducted. Results Burnout and anxiety group (BA) and burnout and depression group (BD) reported significantly higher burnout scores compared to the burnout-only group (BO) (59.90 +/- 15.700, 56.20 +/- 13.190, and 49.99 +/- 11.955, respectively). Perceived stress was a mediator between mindfulness and occupational burnout, and depression and anxiety significantly moderated the mediation path between mindfulness and occupational burnout (beta for stress in moderated mediation models with depression and anxiety respectively: beta = 1.8088, p < 0.001, and beta = 1.7908, p < 0.001). For participants who experienced a high level of depression, less occupational burnout was reduced as mindfulness increased. Indirect effect of mindfulness reducing occupational burnout was greater among participants who experienced less anxiety. Conclusions Depression and anxiety weakened the mindfulness ability on relieving occupational burnout, which could be the potential mechanism of the worsening effect of depression and anxiety.