The impact of role overload on healthcare workers’ psychological distress and well-being: The mediating role of task distraction and moderating roles of resilience and emotional intelligence

Healthcare professionals, including physicians, nurses, and allied health workers, often balance patient care demands under high workloads and limited resources. Maintaining workforce well-being is essential for healthcare system effectiveness. This study examined the impact of role overload (RO) on psychological distress (PD) and psychological well-being (PWB), focusing on the mediating role of task distraction (TD) and the moderating roles of employee resilience (ER) and emotional intelligence (EI). A cross-sectional design was employed, and data were collected from 600 healthcare workers in public and private hospitals in Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Swabi, and Mardan, Pakistan. Validated psychometric scales were used to measure RO, ER, TD, PD, PWB, and EI. The results showed that RO was positively associated with PD and negatively associated with PWB. TD partially mediated both associations. ER moderated the relationship between RO and TD, while EI moderated the associations between TD and both PD and PWB. These findings indicate that higher resilience and emotional intelligence buffer the negative impact of workload and distraction on mental health outcomes. This study highlights the importance of organizational interventions, such as resilience training, emotional intelligence development, and strategies to reduce task distraction, to strengthen healthcare workforce well-being and improve patient care quality.