Psychologists’ Role in Addressing Healthcare Provider Burnout and Well-Being

Burnout in health care has received considerable attention; widespread efforts to implement burnout reduction initiatives are underway. Healthcare providers with marginalized identities may be especially at risk. Health service psychologists are often key members of interprofessional teams and may be asked to intervene with colleagues exhibiting signs of burnout. Consequently, psychologists in these settings can then find themselves in professional quandaries. In the absence of clear guidelines, psychologists are learning to enhance their scope of practice and navigate ethical guidelines while supporting colleagues and simultaneously satisfying organizational priorities. In this paper we (a) provide an overview of burnout and its scope, (b) discuss ethical challenges health service psychologists face in addressing provider burnout, and (c) present three models to employ in healthcare provider burnout and well-being.

Author Notes: This work was supported by Health Resources and Services Administration Health and Public Safety Workforce Resiliency Training Program Funding (HRSA-22-109), “Cultivating Personal Resilience Program” Awarded to Spalding University School of Professional Psychology, January 2022.

Conflict of Interest: Abbie Beacham, PhD, and Andrea King, PsyD, declare no conflicts of interest related to this manuscript or programming described herein. Brenda Nash, PhD, serves as the Principal Investigator on a Health Resources and Services Administrator grant in program development and evaluation of resilience programming for healthcare professions trainees.