Burnout, Coping, and Spirituality Among Internal Medicine Resident Physicians

Abstract

Burnout is a heterogeneous syndrome that affects many residents. We identified a range of emotional and spiritual coping strategies that may have protective benefit.

Influence of Spirituality on Cool Down Reactions, Work Engagement, and Life Satisfaction in Anthroposophic Health Care Professionals

“…In this study, all specific aspects of spirituality correlated weakly to moderately positively with the work engagement and weakly with life satisfaction (which are both moderately interconnected). This can be seen in line with findings of Zwack and Schweitzer [18] that spirituality is one of several resilience strategies to deal with job-related stress factors or that spirituality “could contribute to improved compassionate patient care” [19] and might be beneficial factor to ameliorate or prevent burnout symptoms [19, 20]. Using qualitative interviews, Anandarajah and Roseman [19] substantiated that the interviewed physicians, “despite diversity of personal spiritual beliefs,” felt that compassion, as one aspect of spirituality, was “essential for a physician.” In our study, the variable compassion is part of the conscious interactions subscale, which is weakly associated with work engagement and life satisfaction and the only aspect of spirituality which is related to lower cool down scores at all.…”

“…Using qualitative interviews, Anandarajah and Roseman [19] substantiated that the interviewed physicians, “despite diversity of personal spiritual beliefs,” felt that compassion, as one aspect of spirituality, was “essential for a physician.” In our study, the variable compassion is part of the conscious interactions subscale, which is weakly associated with work engagement and life satisfaction and the only aspect of spirituality which is related to lower cool down scores at all. Among resident physicians, Doolittle et al [20] found that physicians “who place a high priority on healthful relationships, engage in an active spiritual life, and practice humility [ sic ] may have important personality traits that protect against burnout.” All these aspects refer to relational aspects of spirituality, which are part of the “spiritual path” of persons with an anthroposophic background, too.…”

“…According to the results of Zwack and Schweitzer [18] based on data of German physicians, spirituality is one of several resilience strategies to deal with job-related stress factors. Also, Anandarajah and Roseman [19] stated that “spiritual self-care […] could contribute to improved compassionate patient care and help “immunize” physicians against burnout.” Doolittle et al [20] concluded that they “identified […] spiritual coping strategies that may have protective benefit” for physicians. They said that “along with other coping techniques, spirituality may be an important factor in mitigating the effects of burnout.”…”

Understanding emotionally relevant situations in primary dental practice. 2. Reported effects of emotionally charged situations

“…11 Flexibility in coping is associated with greater well-being 1 and achievement and negatively associated with stress reactions, alienation (feeling mistreated and experiencing bad luck) 12 and lower levels of burnout. 13 The stress of hiding one's emotions in the dental surgery has been linked to an increase in adverse clinical events.…”

The Science of Clergy Work-Related Psychological Health, Stress, Burnout and Coping Strategies: Introduction to the Special Section

“…Lower levels of burnout were associated with seeking mentors, attending retreats, regular exercise and scholarly reading. A strength with this developing body of research among clergy is the way in which it is situated alongside studies concerned with burnout, coping and spirituality among other professional groups (see Doolittle, Windrish, & Seelig, 2013).…”