Diagnosis and treatment of occupational burnout in the Swiss outpatient sector: A national survey of healthcare professionals’ attributes and attitudes

We aimed to describe the attributes and attitudes of Swiss health professionals who treat persons with occupational burnout (POB) in the outpatient sector and explore associated determinants. The study design was descriptive cross-sectional survey, distributed to the 16,883 general practitioners (GP), psychiatrist-psychotherapists (PP), occupational physicians (OP) and psychologists registered in the Swiss Medical Association, the Swiss Federation of Psychologists, and other specialized associations. Using an online questionnaire, we identified professionals who consult and treat POB, their attributes, volume of POB consultations, diagnostics and treatment modalities and outcomes (OB severity, average proportion of POB who returned to work and who relapsed). Multinomial regression analysis was conducted to identify attributes associated with these outcomes. Among 3216 respondents, 2951 reported to consult POB, and 1130 (713 physicians and 410 psychologists) to treat them. POB consultations constitute 5 to 25% of professionals' consultations, which varies across professionals' specialties and specializations and geographic regions. The profile of POB consulted also differs across professionals. Work psychologists reported more often consulting POB at early OB stage, GPs mostly reported having patients with moderate OB, while PPs reported having the largest proportion of patients with severe OB. The treatment practices depend on OB severity but neither latter nor former was associated with the proportion of relapsed POB or POB who return to work. Physicians with waiting time >3 months reported more often having a higher proportion of relapsed patients. Since the study had an exploratory nature using a cross-sectional survey design and aggregated outcomes, these findings should be considered as first descriptive data, motivating further research.