Loneliness Among Medical Students, Physician Trainees and Faculty Physicians

Aims of this study were to explore 1) how often medical students, residents, fellows, and faculty physicians who completed a suicide screening questionnaire at a large US academic medical center endorsed intense loneliness and 2) the relationships of loneliness with other negative mental health states.

Between May 2009 and September 2001, all medical students, residents, fellows, and faculty physicians were invited to complete an anonymous online questionnaire as part of a screening program to identify and engage individuals in distress with mental health support. The questionnaire assessed intense loneliness, other affective states known to be associated with suicide risk, burnout, depressive symptoms, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Chi-square tests, independent sample t-tests, ANOVA, and correlation analysis were used to examine relationships between loneliness and these other signals of suicide risk.

The response rate was  ~ 20%. Overall, 364 of 2016 respondents (18.1%) endorsed intense. loneliness "a lot" or "most" of the time. This included 134/641 (20.9%) medical students, 170/703 (24.2%) residents and fellows and 60/664 (9.4%) faculty physicians. A greater odds of endorsing intense loneliness was seen in those under age 40 (OR = 0.35, p < 0.001), women (OR = 1.30, p = 0.030), and non-Whites (OR = 1.70, p < 0.001); and in those with burnout (OR = 3.14, p < 0.001), depression (OR = 12.34, p < 0.001), other intense affective states (OR = 4.34-8.34, p < 0.05), and suicidal ideation (OR = 3.47-13.00, p < 0.001).

Interventions to mitigate loneliness in healthcare trainees and professionals may help decrease burnout, depression, and other suicide risk factors. A limitation of the study was the use of a single item to assess loneliness.