Between suffering and coping: burnout in female medical doctors in South Africa.

Burnout is described as emotional and physical exhaustion, reduced accomplishment, together with an outlook of inadequacy and cynicism related to job stress. It has a harmful impact globally, especially in developing countries, such as South Africa. This study is a phenomenological collective case study focusing on burnout experience in a sample of female medical doctors working in a South African public hospital. Based on ongoing explorations of burnout themes, empirically based intervention strategies are needed to be developed and presented for the South African public health sector to prevent stress-related burnout. The findings support the trend in literature that burnout is an overwhelming experience for female medical doctors in South Africa. The study presents voices of female medical doctors, their concerns, the causes for burnout and their coping mechanisms. It provides a strong contribution to exploring and presenting women's experiences in working in the medical field in South Africa from a positive psychology perspective. The findings indicate the struggles and the coping mechanisms of female medical doctors working in the field.

Generation Y medical doctors' experiences of a positive psychology 2.0 intervention for burnout in a South African public hospital.

The aim of the research was to explore experiences of a Positive Psychology 2.0 (PP2.0) intervention for burnout among Generation Y medical doctors working in a South African public hospital. The emphasis was on the potential benefits and recommended intervention amendments in a specific cultural context of South Africa. A phenomenological approach was followed in the collective case study. The Maslach Burnout Inventory was administered in phases I and III to quantify the level of burnout. This study offers findings that could be incorporated into a bigger burnout intervention strategy in the South African public hospital, involving all stakeholders to ensure that burnout is combatted on a long-term basis. Furthermore, the findings emphasized certain culture-specific structural issues and the impact that the neglection of burnout has on newly qualified medical doctors working in a South African public hospital and patients in their care. Certain recommendations were made for the South African public hospital for future research in PP2.0 interventions and for facilitators working with burnout among newly qualified medical doctors.