Occupational Stress, Burnout, and Quality of Life in Radiographers: A Scoping Review of Workforce Well-Being
<b>Background/Objectives</b>: We conducted a scoping review to map peer-reviewed evidence on occupational stress, burnout, and quality of life among radiographers and radiologic technologists and to identify measurement tools and reported consequences. <b>Methods</b>: Searches were conducted in Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed. Eligible studies enrolled radiographers/radiologic technologists who were healthy adults; assessed at least one target construct (occupational stress, burnout, or quality of life) using validated instruments; and used cross-sectional, experimental, quasi-experimental, longitudinal, or mixed-methods designs. Articles published from 1995 onward in English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese were considered. Two reviewers independently screened, extracted data, and appraised methodological quality using Quality Assessment with Diverse Studies (QuADS). The synthesis was narrative only. <b>Results</b>: Of 2701 records, 10 studies from nine countries met inclusion. Most were cross-sectional, and two used mixed methods. Sample sizes ranged from 38 to 864. Frequently used instruments included MBI-HSS, OSI-R, HSE Indicator Tool, and SOC-13. Across studies, radiographers reported high stress and burnout-particularly emotional exhaustion and depersonalization-alongside reduced quality of life in multiple domains. Recurrent stressors involved workload and staffing pressures, role demands, anxiety about radiation exposure, and limited recognition. These factors were associated with intention to leave and a lower sense of coherence. <b>Conclusions</b>: The evidence base is largely cross-sectional, uses heterogeneous measures, and often relies on modest samples, with overall methodological quality mostly moderate. Findings indicate a persistent psychosocial risk profile in radiography and underscore the need for organizational and managerial actions-such as workplace physical activity programs-to reduce stress and burnout and protect the quality of life in this workforce.
Authors
- Amanda Naves Nunes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9243-4847)
- Beatriz Giolo Andrade Santos
- Pedro Duarte-Mendes
- Pedro Guilherme Matos Ramalho
- Fernanda Mauricio Silva
- André Ramalho
- Henrique Neiva
- Ricardo Ferraz
- Gonçalo Flores
Institutions
- Universidade Politécnica de Castelo Branco (PT)
- University of Beira Interior (PT)
- Instituto Politécnico de Leiria (PT)
- Universidade do Porto (PT)
- Algarve Biomedical Center (PT)
- University of Algarve (PT)
- University of Coimbra (PT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Healthcare
- Published
- 2026-02-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare14040538
- Primary Topic
- Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00