Burnout, Perceived Stress, Sleep Quality, and Smartphone Use: A Survey of Osteopathic Medical Students

Abstract

Context: Burnout is a psychological syndrome that results from prolonged exposure to stressful work activities and includes 3 dimensions: emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and low sense of personal accomplishment (PA). Burnout is a widespread problem in numerous professions but is particularly high among medical students, residents, and early-career physicians compared with college graduates of similar age. However, minimal research has addressed burnout in osteopathic medical students. Objective: To assess levels of burnout in osteopathic medical students and to examine the relationship among burnout, perceived stress, sleep quality, and smartphone use. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional study design and an anonymous, electronic questionnaire service to administer the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Perceived Stress Scale-4, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality index, and the Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version. Results: A total of 385 participants (mean [SD] age, 25 [2.4] years; 208 [54.0%] women; 286 [74.3%] white; 138 [35.8%] second-year osteopathic medical students [OMSs]) completed the survey. Of the 385 participants, 9 (2.3%) reported high EE, 67 (17.4) reported high DP, and 310 (80.5) reported a high level of low PA. When comparing dimensions of burnout by gender, only levels of PA differed by gender, with men reporting higher levels of burnout compared with women (χ 1 2 =5.2, P=.022). Further, levels of DP differed by year in medical school (χ 2 =17.3, P=.008), with posthoc comparisons showing differences between OMS I and OMS III (F=4.530, df=3, P=.004). Linear regression models showed that higher perceived stress (standardized β=0.5, P<.001), poorer sleep quality (standardized β=0.2, P=.001), and higher smartphone addiction scores (standardized β=0.1, P<.001) were associated with higher EE. Similarly, higher perceived stress (standardized β=0.2, P<.001), poorer sleep quality (standardized β=0.2, P=.001), and higher smartphone addiction scores (standardized β=0.2, P=.001) were associated with higher DP. Only higher perceived stress was associated with higher levels of low PA (standardized β=−0.4, P<.001). Conclusions: These findings suggest independent associations with EE, DP, perceived stress, sleep quality, and smartphone use. Additional research with a larger, more diverse sample is needed to confirm these findings. If confirmed, wellness interventions can be designed to target 2 modifiable factors: sleep quality and smartphone use.

Sleep Quality as a Mediator in the Relationship Between Perceived Stress and Job Burnout Among Chinese Nurses: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis

“…Perceived pressure and sleep were related to burnout among faculty at doctoral research universities (56). A recent cross-sectional study conducted among osteopathic medical students also found that higher perceived stress and poorer sleep quality were associated with all three dimensions of burnout (57). Results of our study reveals that perceived stress might not only exert a direct effect on burnout, but could also have indirect effect on burnout through sleep quality, indicating that nurses with higher levels of perceived stress tend to report poorer sleep quality and there is an increased risk on the development of burnout.…”

Mobile phone addiction and its association with burnout in Chinese novice nurses: A cross‐sectional survey

“…The study on a group of 385 osteopathic medical students performed by Brubaker et al. (2020) in 2018 detected that higher smartphone addiction scores are associated with higher emotional exhaustion and depersonalization but are not related with the personal achievement. Hence, the mobile phone addiction may have connection with the feeling of exhaustion by the work and impassive emotions towards others.…”

A brief intervention to reduce burnout and improve sleep quality in medical students

“…Additional demographic and health characteristics are presented in Table 1. Overall, the demographic data in this study were similar to findings from a larger research study with the same first-and second-year students (age = 24.9 ± 2.3, t = .3065 p = .759; 52.3% women (n = 139), χ 2 = .0467, p = 0.829; 73.3% White (n = 195), χ 2 = .630, p = 0.529; BMI = 24.9 ± 4.5, .630, p = 0.529) on burnout, sleep quality, and smartphone addiction [30] as well as the general population of first-and second-year students (n = 495; age = 25.0 ± 2.2; 52.7% women (n = 257); 76% White (n = 376); BMI = unknown) from this institution.…”

“…Interestingly, smartphone overuse is associated with higher burnout scores, in particular emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, in medical students [ 30 ]. This may be particularly relevant considering the percentages of medical students exhibiting smartphone addiction across the world (29.8% in Anhui Province, China [ 31 ]; 39.9% in Delhi, India [ 28 ], 36.5% in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia [ 32 ], 22.3% in Ohio, United States [ 30 ]). Medical students experience disproportionately higher burnout rates compared to similarly aged college graduates [ 4 ].…”