Unresolved Depression on Alleviating Health Research Burnout

Burnout is a widespread issue among health researchers, impairing both their well-being and research productivity. COVID-19 increased it. Through its psychosomatic effects, burnout diminishes researcher productivity, slowing and sometimes compromising advancements in health research. Resulting from unsuccessfully managed chronic workplace stress, energy depletion, or exhaustion, burnout is associated with depression, though not equivalent to it. Alleviating burnout may not result in resolving depression if its source is not burnout-related. Using a historical analysis methodology, this study examines the results of author-created and facilitated programs designed to relieve burnout in health researchers. The programs demonstrated effectiveness with their completion. For some, non-burnout-related depression remained after program completion. Discussed are the possible reasons for this unresolved depression and its potential solutions. The conclusion: being female and/or part of a minority, their depression remained once diminishing their burnout because of a perceived lack of personal support from individuals deemed significant to the researcher, not from COVID-19. Only when health researchers considered that they received such support with authentic leadership and team mindfulness was this depression controlled. The development of hopeful resilience is a potentially effective means to manage lingering depression in health researchers who have been programmatically successful in relieving their burnout-related depression.