Emotion Regulation and Burnout in Family Medicine Residents

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Although burnout in medicine—particularly medical education—represents an ongoing problem, relatively few studies have established longitudinal connections between burnout and risk factors. Establishment of specific causal links and risk factors will determine important curriculum changes to reduce the risk of burnout in medical learners. Our study aimed to explore links between emotion regulation skill (strategies individuals use to regulate emotional experiences and responses to stress) and vulnerability to burnout using a longitudinal design in one family medicine residency program. Methods: Family medicine residents completed the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) at the beginning of each year (July/August). The residency program collected data over the course of 5 years. All residents consented to participate. We used linear regression analyses to examine postgraduate year-1 DERS scores as a predictor of postgraduate year-2 burnout and postgraduate year-3 burnout. Results: In this sample of residents, higher scores on the DERS at the first year of residency predicted personal and work-related burnout on the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) at the beginning of the second and third years. Conclusions: Difficulties with emotion regulation predicted personal burnout in this small sample. This finding dovetails with cross-sectional data in the literature. Although further mechanisms contributing to burnout should be explored, this finding suggests that direct instruction in adaptive emotion regulation strategies delivered early in medical education could provide significant downstream benefits for family medicine residents.

The interplay between mentalization, personality traits and burnout in psychiatry training: Results from a large multicenter controlled study

“…Burnout among psychiatry residents was here found to be predicted exactly by those personal factors negatively implicated in self‐selection, namely a secure attachment and goal‐directed coping strategies (i.e., which were found to be lower among psychiatry trainees). These results confirm previous evidence collected in similar samples 48,63–65 . Furthermore, also as previously observed, 29,66 a relevant role in predicting burnout was found for emotional regulation and coping strategies.…”

“…These results confirm previous evidence collected in similar samples. 48,[63][64][65] Furthermore, also as previously observed, 29,66 a relevant role in predicting burnout was found for emotional regulation and coping strategies. In turn, individual emotional regulation skills were observed to impact on the risk of emotion exhaustion and depersonalization, especially regarding the capacity to engage in goal-directed behavior and distracting oneself from negative affect.…”

Residency spiral concussion curriculum design

“…6 Curriculum learning efficiency is essential for residents, as clinical content overload in the data-driven medicine community negatively impacts learning effectiveness and increases the risk of burnout. 13 Our results indicate that a spiral curriculum improves residents' learning efficiency. This end-user benefit also aligns with one of the 'Quadruple Aims'-an internationallyrecognised framework for the design of effective healthcare systems-that of improving provider work-life experience.…”

“…An integrated education approach, utilising learner‐tailored curricula, teaching methods and resources, has been proposed to improve residents' learning efficiency 6 . Curriculum learning efficiency is essential for residents, as clinical content overload in the data‐driven medicine community negatively impacts learning effectiveness and increases the risk of burnout 13 . Our results indicate that a spiral curriculum improves residents' learning efficiency.…”