Risk and protective factors against burnout increase during psychiatry training: evidence from a longitudinal...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education Research
• Psychiatry
• Occupational Health Psychology

Background:

• Mentalising skills, encompassing personal and interpersonal competencies, are influenced by early experiences and coping mechanisms.
• While cross-sectional studies suggest a link between mentalising and burnout, longitudinal data, particularly in psychiatry training, is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify protective and risk factors associated with burnout scores over time in medical residents.
• To compare burnout scores in psychiatry residents versus other medical residents longitudinally.

Main Methods:

• A cohort of 1803 residents (1131 psychiatry) assessed for mentalising skills, emotion regulation, interpersonal competence, coping strategies, and burnout.
• One-year follow-up data collected from 520 psychiatry residents and 234 other residents.
• Longitudinal mixed models and bivariate latent change models were utilized for analysis.

Main Results:

• Higher burnout correlated with insecure attachment, emotional dysregulation, maladaptive coping, and lower interpersonal skills across all residents.
• Monthly supervision was linked to reduced burnout over time.
• Improvements in emotional regulation predicted lower burnout; psychiatry residents showed lower burnout and greater protection from interpersonal skills and coping strategies compared to other residents.

Conclusions:

• Mentalising abilities can mitigate burnout development among medical trainees.
• Psychiatry training appears to be a protective factor against burnout.
• Regular supervision may enhance professional development and emotional resilience, thereby reducing burnout.