Self-care alone will not solve burnout; deeper approach to well-being key
Key takeaways:
- Self-care involves intentional actions meant to foster a sense of personal resilience.
- Practices should foster supportive environments that prioritize mental health in policy.
BOSTON — As the health care industry faces rising professional burnout, the field should embrace self-care as part of the solution, according to a speaker at the National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meetings.
However, promoting personal wellness without addressing systemic issues does not work, Sarah J. Stevenson, LICSW, NSW-C, CCM, a social worker at Providence VA Medical Center, told Healio.
“Over the past several years I started to notice that self-care was having a moment for health care workers. It was becoming so clear how burnt out social workers, nurses, doctors, everybody was feeling,” she said. “The solution was to offer us things like free yoga classes or workshops on meditation. This is lovely — I actually teach a chair yoga class to staff once a month — but it did not get to the core issue I felt we were all experiencing.”
A robust approach is needed to develop sustainable self-care practices. Stevenson set out to define what those practices may look like, identify how well-being is hindered in the workplace and evaluate the practicality of common self-care approaches.
Understanding burnout
Burnout in health care has increased in recent years, with nearly 50% of workers reporting persistent exhaustion in 2022, a substantial increase from 32% in 2018, Stevenson said, citing data from the CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published November 2023.
That work-life survey polled professionals from 2018 to 2022. Essential workers, including those in renal care, said they sought mental health support more often, with many reporting more poor mental health days during the pandemic, she said.
Unfortunately, the problem is not always fully understood, according to Stevenson.
Many workers may feel “understaffed and underpaid, with high caseloads, increasingly older and sicker populations and fewer community resources,” she said. “We are expected to do more with less. The solution, we are told, is to practice self-care to avoid burnout. And if we do not practice self-care, we are made to feel guilty and are blamed for our burnout.”
Practicing self-care
Self-care involves intentional actions meant to foster a sense of personal resilience, according to Stevenson, who compiled a range of scholarly perspectives on the concept. Definitions vary, with many emphasizing intentional actions to improve mental, emotional and physical well-being through relaxation, setting boundaries, pursuing personal interests and finding work-life balance.
Self-care emerged as a tool for patients to cope with chronic conditions, Stevenson said, but evolved into broader themes of burnout, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The idea of self-care has gained momentum, but practical implementation cannot be overlooked. Although a workplace can implement common wellness programs, like yoga, they should also go further to foster a supportive environment that prioritizes mental health as a strategic approach that can be built into company policies, Stevenson said.
When it comes to maintaining a personal sense of self-care, workers can look to set clear work-life boundaries, prioritize meaningful personal engagement and advocate for structural changes within organizations, such as improved leave policies and support.
As the health care industry faces staffing shortages, it is essential to address burnout, Stevenson said. Projections show a potential shortage of nearly 64,000 registered nurses by 2030, 195,000 masters of social work by 2030, 86,000 physicians by 2036 and 10 million health care workers worldwide by 2030, she said.
One way to address the commotion is to take a step back.
Many “of us work all day long,” Stevenson said during the presentation. “We are going from one crisis to another, especially when there is not enough staff, high turnover and not enough resources. We [must] give ourselves a chance to pause in between those challenges.”
For more information:
Sarah J. Stevenson, LICSW, NSW-C, CCM, can be reached at sarah.stevenson@va.gov.
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Stevenson SJ. Abstract G-472. Presented at: NKF Spring Clinical Meetings; April 9-13, 2025; Boston.
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