Search

Objective: Qualitative research on trainee well-being can add nuance to the understanding of propagators of burnout, and the role for interventions aimed at supporting well-being. This qualitative study was conducted to identify (i) situations and environments that cause stress for trainees, (ii) stress-reducing activities that trainees utilize, and (iii) whether trainees who report distress (high burnout and depression scores) describe different stressors and relaxation factors than those who do not., Methods: The study was conducted with a convenience sample of first-year medicine and psychiatry residents at a large urban teaching hospital. Participants were asked to complete electronic stress and relaxation diaries daily for 1 week. Diary entries were coded for recurrent themes. Participants were screened for burnout and depression. Codes were compared by subgroup based on baseline burnout and depression status to elucidate if specific themes emerged in these subgroups., Results: Study sample included 51 interns. Sixteen (16/50, 32%) screened positive for burnout and three (3/50, 14%) had a positive depression screen. The most common stressors related to aspects of the learning environment, compounded by feeling under-equipped, overwhelmed, or out of time. The majority of relaxation activities involved social connection, food, other comforts, and occurred outside of the hospital environment., Conclusions: This study reveals that interns (regardless of burnout or depression screen) identify stressors that derive primarily from organizational, interpersonal, and cultural experiences of the learning environment; whereas relaxation themes are diversely represented across realms (home, leisure, social, health), though emphasize activities that occur outside of the work place.

Purpose: The purpose of this pilot study was threefold: to teach nurses the Relaxation Response ( RR), a relaxation technique created by Benson; to measure the effects of the RR on nurses' levels of anxiety, depression, well-being, and work-related stress; and to explore nurses' confidence in teaching their patients the RR., Design: A wait-list, randomized-control quantitative study design was used., Method: Nurses in the intervention group were trained on the benefits and the technique of the RR and were then asked to practice the RR over an 8-week period., Findings: No statistical significance was found in nurses' reported level of anxiety, depression, well-being, and work-related stress. However, the nurses reported greater confidence in teaching this technique to patients ( p < .001)., Conclusion: As a strategy for self-care in the workplace, nurses were receptive to learning the RR and reported confidence in using this strategy for their patients. Larger studies may reveal more significant reductions in workplace stress and anxiety for nurses.

Purpose and Design: Snack and Relax® (S&R), a program providing healthy snacks and holistic relaxation modalities to hospital employees, was evaluated for immediate impact. A cross-sectional survey was then conducted to assess the professional quality of life (ProQOL) in registered nurses (RNs); compare S&R participants/nonparticipants on compassion satisfaction (CS), burnout, and secondary traumatic stress (STS); and identify situations in which RNs experienced compassion fatigue or burnout and the strategies used to address these situations., Method: Pre- and post vital signs and self-reported stress were obtained from S&R attendees (N = 210). RNs completed the ProQOL Scale measuring CS, burnout, and STS (N = 158)., Findings: Significant decreases in self-reported stress, respirations, and heart rate were found immediately after S&R. Low CS was noted in 28.5% of participants, 25.3% had high burnout, and 23.4% had high STS. S&R participants and nonparticipants did not differ on any of the ProQOL scales. Situations in which participants experienced compassion fatigue/burnout were categorized as patient-related, work-related, and personal/family-related. Strategies to address these situations were holistic and stress reducing., Conclusion: Providing holistic interventions such as S&R for nurses in the workplace may alleviate immediate feelings of stress and provide a moment of relaxation in the workday., (© The Author(s) 2015.)

Background: Training to become a dentist is one of the most demanding professional education experiences. There are very few studies on strategies and activities to cope with study-related stress during dental training. We therefore evaluated the prevalence of burnout symptoms and coping activities among dental students., Methods: A cross-sectional survey was performed analyzing a sample of 239 dental students from Germany. Students were asked to complete a survey containing questions about burnout symptoms and coping behavior., Results: A total of 38% of the dental students perceived symptoms of emotional exhaustion; 17% reported symptoms of personal accomplishment and 11% perceived scores of depersonalization. Students reported on coping activities, ranging from health-promoting techniques, such as exercising, to less recommendable health harming relaxation strategies, such as taking drugs., Conclusion: Our results indicate the need for relevant health promotion and may aid decision makers in developing health promotion programs.

Stress is a well known and identified problem within the nursing profession. Dialysis nurses are exposed to high level of stress. Increasing workload can aggravate stress and cause burnout and exhaustion. Stress and burnout are capable of having a detrimental impact on organizational productivity and pose serious health and safety hazards on the job. We aimed in this study to determine the type and level of stress and the amount of burnout among our dialysis nurses, and to evaluate the managing skills and the impact of stress on their work performance. There were 93 nurses (19 national and 74 expatriate nurses) who answered modified questionnaires to the aims of our prospective and descriptive correlational study. Our results show that most nurses involved in the study (national and expatriate) experienced a mild level of stress (79% and 68%, respectively) and moderate level of burnout (42% and 38%, respectively). The most common stressor among the national nurses was technical breakdowns of machines (15.9%) and that among expatriates was job insecurity (16.9%). The majority of the national nurses (21%) coped with this by increased sick leaves, whereas the majority (25%) of the expatriates responded by becoming easily frustrated. The most utilized coping skill among both groups was the relaxation methods (20.8% versus 24.9%) and the least utilized was denial (3.9% versus 0.5%). In conclusion, our results suggest the exposure of dialysis nurses to different types of stress and demonstrate the different experienced coping skills. These results may have implications for nursing management and hospital administration.

This longitudinal questionnaire study conducted among 274 Finnish employees (57% women, average age 45.9 years) in a variety of jobs aimed at identifying groups of employees who share similar mean levels and changes in need for recovery and finding out whether factors regarded as antecedents of need for recovery distinguish between the different groups of need for recovery across one year. Using mixture modeling eight groups of need for recovery were identified. The individuals identified as closely resembling each other with respect to need for recovery and its change across one year were considered to belong to the same need for recovery group. Five of these groups indicated stable (low, moderately low, average, moderately high, and high) need for recovery and three showed change (mostly decreasing) in the level of need for recovery across one year. Employees in the favorable (low and moderately low) need for recovery groups (38%) reported to have more favorable work characteristics and better functioning recovery experiences and they spent more time on physical and social off-job activities than those in the unfavorable (high and moderately high) groups (23%). Thus, the antecedents examined play a significant role in maintaining need for recovery over time.

Burnout has damaging effects on physicians. This research reveals how outstanding doctors avoid burnout. Winners of the American Medical Association Foundation's Pride in the Professions Award were interviewed to learn how they manage burnout. Information was collected through telephone interviews. The data were categorized through content analysis. The results showed that techniques for avoiding burnout varied and included setting limits, sharing issues with family and friends, physical exercise, cultivating relaxation, and humor. These doctors have become skilled at recognizing the signs of burnout and countering its effects while maintaining the highest standard of care and demonstrating leadership in their vocation.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a particular burnout risk reduction method among family physicians within a family practice residency program and to contribute to the very limited research literature on family physician residents' stress reduction. The author used the Respiratory One Method (ROM) as a burnout risk reduction method. This study used a quasi-experimental design to compare participating physicians with a control group. To test the research hypothesis that ROM has an effect on emotional exhaustion (EE), the data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test. The results revealed that the ROM treatment did have an effect on emotional exhaustion scores. Findings of this study are useful for burnout prevention and curriculum development among family physicians caring for patients in family practice programs.