Burnout Syndrome is a highly prevalent condition among higher education teachers (HET) and can bring consequences such as high levels of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced professional achievement. The extent to which interventions are effective in managing Burnout Syndrome in higher education teachers remains uncertain.

Systematically review the literature on the effectiveness of interventions for Burnout Syndrome in higher education teachers.

We systematically searched the MEDLINE, LILACS, Index Psicologia, SciELO, BVS and PubMed databases in search of randomized clinical trials on interventions in Burnout Syndrome. Full texts of included studies were screened to extract data on study design, country, type of population, number of participants, characteristics of interventions, and summary of results. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale.

Seven randomized controlled trials were selected, with a total of 367 participants and samples ranging from 17 to 185 participants. Five interventions were identified: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Multidisciplinary Meeting with Guided Discussion, Meditation, Stress Management Programs and Auriculotherapy; however, studies reported efficacy in terms of reducing Burnout Syndrome only for CBT interventions (p < .001 for Emotional Exhaustion; p = .006 for Depersonalization and p < .001 for Personal Fulfillment) and Multidisciplinary Meetings with Discussion Guide ( p < .001 for Emotional Exhaustion and p = .006 for Depersonalization). The average score, according to the PEDro scale, was 8/10 points, ranging from 5 to 10 points.

As for the identified interventions, evidence was found from a small number of studies, small samples and moderate to high methodological quality that suggest that CBT sessions can be effective for Burnout as well as collective interventions of Multidisciplinary Meetings with Discussion Guide. Additionally, such interventions also proved to be effective in increasing HES engagement. Furthermore, Meditation, as an individual intervention, seems to improve anxiety and resilience.

This result implies the need for more research to be carried out to replicate the interventions discussed here and to investigate others, to improve the quality of life of higher education teachers at all stages of their teaching careers.