Burnout is widespread among mental health clinicians, including Occupational Therapists (Morse et al., 2012; Scalan & Hazelton, 2019). Newer mental health clinicians tend to be at higher risk of burnout than experienced clinicians (McCombie & Antanavage, 2017). This risk of burnout has been heightened during the recent COVID-19 pandemic, as demands for mental health services in Canada have increased and healthcare staffing shortages have reached critical levels (Statistics Canada, 2022a; Statistics Canada 2022b). There are multiple factors that contribute to increased burnout for mental health OTs, including the demands of the job, nature of the work, lack of rewards, limited opportunities for training, resource shortages and decreased professional identity/discipline-specific supports (Abendstern et al., 2017; Devery et al., 2018; Gupta et al., 2012; Lloyd et al., 2005; Scanlan & Still, 2013). Burnout prevention literature, though limited, indicates that a multi-pronged approach can be helpful (Morse et al., 2012).
The New Hire Support Program for Mental Health OTs provides a multi-intervention approach to help reduce burnout risk and bolster professional resilience for OTs who are new to mental health. This supportive, comprehensive program involves three evidence-based components: i) a resource support toolkit; ii) professional development and self-care plans; iii) a mentorship program. This program is positioned to not only directly address the issue of burnout and resilience for mental health OTs, but is also projected to have an important impact on retention rates and patient care. It will also add to a limited body of existing literature focused on clinician burnout prevention.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/46178 |
| Date | 08 May 2023 |
| Creators | Tsuda, Matthew Jason |
| Contributors | Jacobs, Karen |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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