by Meshack Achore, Martine Hackett, Tatiana Ramirez Introduction Community health workers (CHWs) play a critical role in advancing health equity by bridging underserved communities with health and social services. However, expanding responsibilities, emotional labor, and fragmented service systems contribute to burnout.
While prior research has examined CHW burnout in urban, rural, and crisis contexts, little is known about how burnout is experienced and mitigated in suburban settings characterized by geographic dispersion and administrative fragmentation. This study explored how CHWs in suburban Long Island, New York, experience emotional labor overload and the strategies they use, individually and organizationally, to prevent burnout.
Methods We conducted a qualitative descriptive study using purposive and snowball sampling and recruited 10 CHWs from Nassau and Suffolk counties in New York. Data were collected through ten semi-structured interviews and five participant observations.
Participants were primarily women aged 35–44 years, most of whom (86%) worked in Nassau County and reported 2–5 years of experience. Transcripts were analyzed thematically using Braun and Clarke’s six-step framework in ATLAS.ti.