Belonging: A simple, brief intervention decreases burnout

INTRODUCTION:

Attrition in general surgery is a significant problem facing residency programs. On average one out of five residents leaves general surgery for another field. We utilized a randomized, controlled trial to determine whether a brief targeted intervention designed to improve residents' sense of belonging might decrease attrition.

METHODS:

Participants were junior residents from seven surgical specialties (n=35; 15 women). After a survey of attitudes and beliefs, we randomized men and women into either a belonging treatment or control condition. Junior residents read anecdotes from senior residents describing the challenges the seniors had faced early in residency (treatment condition) or describing challenging ethical dilemmas they had encountered early in residency (control condition). Several months later, juniors were asked about their attitudes and beliefs as a proxy for future intentions to leave residency.

RESULTS:

Residents who felt more like they belonged were more likely to think they would complete residency (r=0.51, p<0.01) and less likely to see themselves as a different type of physician (r=0.36, p<0.01). After the intervention, residents in the treatment condition had significantly lower rates of burnout than those in the control condition (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS:

The belonging intervention decreased the rate of burnout for those in the treatment condition. Because burnout positively correlates with absenteeism and high turnover rates, the residents in the treatment may be less likely to quit residency than those in the control. We intend to follow these residents for several years in order to assess the impact of our intervention on attrition.