Speaker
Description
Background: Healthcare professionals worldwide experience high stress, burnout, and depression rates, which affect care quality, patient safety, and workforce retention. These challenges are particularly pronounced in demanding clinical settings, especially in maternity care, which is high-pressure, emotional, and time-sensitive. Despite these challenges, the mental health of maternity care providers is under-researched, even though their well-being impacts care and outcomes for mothers and babies. In sub-Saharan Africa in particular, health systems struggle with workforce shortages, high patient loads, and limited resources. Few studies compare maternity care providers across these countries or examine factors linked to stress, burnout, and depression.
Objective: Our study examines perceived stress, burnout, and depression among maternal health providers in Ghana and Kenya, focusing on workplace factors, including workload, effort–reward imbalance, job satisfaction, and individual factors such as sleep quality, health, and socio-demographics.
Method: This study is part of a larger trial evaluating the effectiveness of the Caring for Providers to Improve Patient Experience (CPIPE) intervention and presents baseline cross-sectional findings from maternity care providers working in Migori and Homabay, Kenya, and Northern Ghana. Informed consent was obtained from all participants before data collection. Perceived stress was measured using the 10-item Cohen Perceived Stress Scale, burnout with the Shirom-Melamed Burnout measure, and depression with the 2-item Patient Health Questionnaire. Descriptive statistics examined the distribution of outcome scores and potential correlates. Bivariable analysis included cross-tabulation and unadjusted multilevel linear regression; variables with p<0.25 were included in the multivariable analysis.
Results: Of 414 providers, the average age was 36 years (SD ± 6.7). Most were female (83.8%), married (86.2%), midwives (48%), and worked in government facilities (68.8%). Kenyan providers were older, had more males, and included clinical officers. 12.6% had a chronic condition, higher in Kenya (19%) than in Ghana (6.5%; p=0.019). The overall mean perceived stress score was 17.72 (SD 4.56, range 1.00- 35.00). Kenyan providers had significantly higher mean perceived stress (18.42 compared with 17.05; p = 0.001), burnout (2.86 compared with 2.48; p = 0.003), and depression scores (1.20 compared with 0.88; p = 0.012) than Ghanaian providers. Country-specific analyses indicated divergence in factors associated with perceived stress, burnout, and depression. Across both countries, chronic medical conditions were associated with poorer mental health, while good sleep quality and positive perceptions of health were generally protective. Work-related psychosocial factors, including effort–reward imbalance, overcommitment, long working hours, and job satisfaction, were more prominent correlates in Kenya. In contrast, gender, salary level, and facility type were more influential in Ghana.
Conclusion: There is a high mental health burden among maternity care providers driven by both workplace and individual factors. While some determinants are shared across settings, interventions may need to be tailored to address country-specific drivers of provider mental health. Interventions targeting sleep, workload, and workplace support may help reduce stress and burnout.