Background: In today’s performance-oriented society, burnout symptoms, defined as consequences of chronic work stress, are an increasing problem. To counteract this development, the important aims are (1) to find protective and modifiable factors that reduce the risk of developing and harboring burnout symptoms and (2) to understand the underlying mechanisms. A phenomenon potentially furthering both aims is flow experience. Based on the earlier literature, we developed a psycho-physiological “Flow-Burnout-Model”, which postulates positive or negative associations between flow and burnout symptoms, depending on the prevailing situational and personal conditions. Methods: To test our Flow-Burnout-Model, we conducted a systematic literature search encompassing flow and burnout symptoms. Eighteen empirical studies met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. Results: The findings of the systematic review as a whole suggest a negative association between flow and burnout symptoms, both cross-sectional and longitudinal. According to the findings from longitudinal studies, flow can be interpreted as a protective factor against burnout symptoms, and burnout symptoms can be interpreted as a factor inhibiting flow. In our conclusion, we maintain the assumption of a bidirectional association between flow and burnout symptoms in the Flow-Burnout-Model but modify the initially suggested positive and negative associations between flow and burnout symptoms towards a predominantly negative relationship. Discussion: Mindful of the heterogeneous findings of earlier studies, the resulting comprehensive Flow-Burnout-Model will lay the foundations for future hypothesis-based research. This includes physiological mechanisms explaining the relationship between flow and burnout symptoms, and likewise, the conditions of their longitudinal association.

Background: The first analyses of the various consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic show that the risk to nurses’ psychological well-being is particularly high. As the pandemic and the demands imposed on nurses are not yet fully understood, there is a need to seek buffering factors to protect nurses’ psychological health. In line with the earliest evidence, we hypothesize pandemic-related increases in perceived stress and decreases in the frequency of flow experiences, likewise in satisfaction with work, life, work performance, and well-being. As protective factors while dealing with pandemic-related stress, we suggest an individual’s sense of humor and perceived appreciation. Methods: In June/July 2020 – during the first lockdown in Germany – participants completed an online-survey in which they were asked to rate their situation before the pandemic (retrospectively) and during the pandemic. Our sample consisted of 174 registered nurses (161 females, 13 males, M_age = 40.52), of whom 85 worked as public health nurses and 89 as geriatric nurses. Results: During the pandemic, nurses felt more stressed, had fewer flow experiences, and were less satisfied with their work, life, work-performance, and well-being than before the pandemic. In addition, nurses felt more appreciation from society but less from their patients. Sense of humor and the perceived appreciation of society and patients were confirmed as buffers of negative pandemic-related effects. Conclusion: Our study contributes to the so far scarce knowledge on nurses’ pandemic-related stress and well-being in combination with their resources. Moreover, we were able to identify sense of humor and appreciation as protective factors.

Firefighters act within extreme environments, work under threatening conditions and are often exposed to goal conflicts (e.g., self-protection vs. mission objective) during their missions. However, what are the consequences of these safety and task goal conflicts, and what countermeasures could help to reduce their occurrence? In an online survey, 340 firefighters were asked about goal conflicts, risky decision making, debriefings and the frequency of difficulties in teamwork during firefighting. Associations between the survey variables were determined by multivariate regression and mediation analyses. Data show that goal conflicts were associated with risky decision making and unsafe acts. Furthermore, debriefings were associated with fewer goal conflicts, as mediated by less-frequent difficulties with teamwork (communication, leadership and shared mental models). Though limited by the cross-sectional design of our study, the results provide evidence that debriefing is a valuable tool to reduce difficulties experienced with teamwork on missions and therefore reduce the occurrence of conflicting goals. Fewer goal conflicts are associated with a decrease in unsafe decisions and, thus, a safer working environment for firefighters. Accordingly, it is recommended to conduct debriefings, with an increased focus on team aspects.

Flow is often experienced under stress-related conditions and associated with improved performance and well-being. Different workplace stressors and resources demonstrably affect individual flow. Considering the team level, our study explores the associations between typical teamwork-related stressors and resources and team flow. Firefighters work under extremely challenging conditions and rely on functioning teamwork processes, thereby constituting a promising sample for examining team flow and its associated factors. An online questionnaire was implemented in Germany examining frequency of team flow, experienced teamwork-related stressors, and resources in firefighting missions. Collective orientation was also measured as a factor potentially associated with team flow. The final sample consisted of 317 experienced firefighters. Multiple regression analyses showed that the more often firefighters experienced stressors of teamwork (e.g., problems regarding leadership or lacking shared mental models) the less often they experienced team flow. Conversely, the experience of resources of teamwork (e.g., good communication and shared mental models) was associated with more frequent team flow. Collective orientation was positively associated with team flow. As team competencies are trainable, the study offers concrete approaches for interventions strengthening teamwork and team flow, thereby benefitting firefighters but also teams in other professions.

Despite the high stress levels, paramedics seem to ignore or even negate the stress. This can be detrimental and lead to stress-related diseases. Therefore, we investigated the divergence between physiological and psychological stress responses of paramedics. Participants were 16 paramedics and 17 white-collar workers. We assessed psychological stress parameters, cortisol awakening response (CAR), and quantified immune parameters. In paramedics, electrocardiogram (ECG) was measured during one complete 24-hour shift. Our results revealed that CAR was higher in paramedics compared to controls. An alteration of immune parameters was observed even during days of free time. Also, ECG recordings showed acute stress in paramedics during rescue situations. Questionnaires revealed that rescue-service specific stressors affect psychological outcomes. However, paramedics reported significantly less mental stress and higher levels of depersonalization than controls. Taken together, our results suggest higher stress in paramedics compared to controls. However, paramedics negate their daily stress. Our findings underline therefore the importance to develop stress-management interventions for paramedics including sensitization for their stress reactions.