Occupational stress and burnout among health care workers caring for people living with HIV in Eswatini

We used the Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire and Copenhagen Burnout Inventory in our cross-sectional study to examine associations between occupational stress and burnout among 368 health care workers (HCW) who cared for people living with HIV (PLWH) in Eswatini. Chi-square and logistic regression analyses were conducted. HCW caring for PLWH reported high efforts, imbalanced effort-reward ratios, overcommitment, and low rewards. Health care managers, physicians, and nurses reported higher work efforts, effort-reward ratios, overcommitment, and personal, work-related, and client-related burnout than laboratory staff or peer counselors. HCW with high work efforts, effort-reward ratios, and overcommitment had significantly higher risks of having personal (odds ratio [OR] 5 4.60), work-related (OR 5 3.96), and client-related burnout (OR 5 2.20). HCW with low rewards had a significant risk of having personal (OR 5 3.13) and work-related (OR 5 2.08) burnout. Our results suggested the need for policies to reduce work stress for HCW caring for PLWH.