Relationship between Coping Strategies and Burnout among Healthcare Professionals: Role of Emotional Intelligence

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the relationship between coping strategies and burnout among healthcare professionals in Pakistan, with emotional intelligence (EI) measured as a mediating variable. The study employed a convenient sample of healthcare professionals from both public and private hospitals. The Coping Scale, the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test, and the Burnout Assessment Tool were used to collect the data. SPSS was used to conduct statistical analysis. In this regard, Pearson correlation analysis was employed to assess the strength and direction of relationships among variables, and Hayes’ PROCESS macro (Model 4) was applied to test for mediation effects. The findings of the current study demonstrated that adaptive coping strategies were significantly positively correlated with emotional intelligence, and negatively associated with burnout. Moreover, emotional intelligence also showed a strong inverse relationship with burnout. Mediation analysis verified that emotional intelligence partially mediated the relationship between coping strategies and burnout, signifying those individuals having better EI scores tend to effectively translate coping efforts into psychological resilience, thus experiencing reduced symptoms of burnout. The results of moderation analysis shows that the interaction effect of emotional intelligence and gender on burnout was not statistically significant. Practical implications include the incorporation of EI-based workshops in hospital training programs to buffer burnout. Future studies may consider the moderating variables such as job role, city, and nature of job, age, and organizational environment for a more comprehensive understanding of these relationships.