Burnout among service providers addressing substance use disorders

Key take-home messages

• Main burnout components experienced among service providers addressing substance use disorders include emotional exhaustion (feeling drained of all available emotional capacity), depersonalization (experiencing cynicism, helplessness and detachment), and lowered sense of personal accomplishment (belief that one’s work is not significant).
• Sources of burnout include high patient volumes, workload, the amount of time required to address substance use disorders, managing work and community commitments, as well as a negative work environment and a lack of co-worker support.
• Successful interventions to reduce burnout among service providers include the use of acceptance and treatment therapy (ACT) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), having high quality clinical supervision, having access to coworker support, and taking part in pleasurable activities.

• Population(s)
  • General HIV- population
  • Other
• Prevention
  • Drug use behaviours/harm reduction
• Substance Use
  • Nonmedicinal drugs