Issue 1 — Existing methods of burnout identification are inaccessible
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From our research, existing methods of burnout identification are primarily physical questionnaires, which limits the scale of dissemination.

Scoring and tabulation of results are done manually, which increases the effort required to conduct tests, awe well as increases human errors and misinterpretation of results.

Issue 2 — Frequency of questionnaires conducted are low

Questionnaires are disseminated once a year — with focus on a small group of professionals, primarily healthcare workers, and medical students.

With a low frequency of dissemination, this results in burnout being detected either too early or too late, where intervention would have limited effect on the individual.

Context and solutioning

Based on the Maslach Burnout Inventory, there are three contributing factors towards burnout. Identifying these aspects early are key in recognising signs of burnout within individuals.

Information about the three aspects can be found a

Premise of approach

To address the causes of burnout, we envisioned three approaches to tackle the issue. These approaches would inform our solution to the issue of early burnout identification.

These approaches work in-tandem to offer a wholistic solution for individuals who not only want to detect burnout early, but also to help them to alleviate some of the stressors which may be causing the issue.

Proposed solution

To address the issue, we proposed adopting a wholistic product based on the premise set above. This would encompass:

1. A digitised form process as well as automated generation of the MBI score
2. Increased frequency of questionnaire, leveraging on agile methodologies and structure.
3. Introduction of peer feedback and review
4. Expanding the target audience of the questionnaire

The following sections will explain these in more detail

Periodic mental wellbeing check-ins

Check-ins are crucial in detecting stages of early burnout. Users would be highly encouraged to complete a questionnaire containing the Maslach Burnout Inventory after each sprint. The score from this questionnaire would inform varying levels of an individual's emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and personal fulfilment at work.

Self reflection and positive reinforcement

Journaling and self-reflection through writing accomplishments has been studied to have a positive effect on one’s self-worth and satisfaction — this provides the feeling of being in control of difficult problems at work.

Post Sprint summary and results

At the end of the questionnaire, users are given results of the risk of burn out, according to the Maslach Burnout Inventory.

This gives the individual feedback on their mental state based on the scoring of the questionnaire. While it is only a gauge, it encourages self-reflection and could serve as a warning for the user.

By allowing teammates to leave reviews, external validation and feedback can be created and is important for an individual’s mental wellbeing.

This correlates to higher levels of personal fufillment at work and satisfaction, based on the identifiers of burnout, such as; Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalisation and Personal Fulfilment.