A therapeutic intervention for burnout in general surgery residents

Purpose Multi-institutional, prospective trial aimed to assess the impact of one of the two targeted interventions on burnout in general surgery residents. Methods Residents at 7 general surgery programs were invited to complete an electronic survey including the 2-item Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and other assessments with validity evidence. Based on program-aggregated survey responses, programs were assigned to either a gratitude practices or job crafting (JC) intervention. Paired surveys were also conducted post-intervention. Statistical analysis was conducted using Kruskal–Wallis, Wilcoxon–Mann Whitney, and Wilcoxon signed-ranks tests, as appropriate, with the primary outcome of summed MBI score (scale 0–12). Results Of the 90 residents with complete pre- and post-intervention data (50.3%), 3 programs participated in the gratitude intervention (35.6%) and 4 programs participated in the JC intervention (64.4%). Initial mean burnout scores in the gratitude and JC groups were 6.0 and 5.3, respectively ( p = 0.33), with no significant differences based on age, gender, institution, or PGY year. Pre- and post-intervention burnout scores were not different overall (5.6 vs 5.8, p = 0.55); neither was change in burnout scores among interventions (gratitude 6.0–5.8 vs JC 5.3–5.8, p = 0.35). On subset analysis, residents with high pre-intervention burnout risk experienced a statistically significant decrease in burnout (8.7–7.7, p = 0.02); however, the opposite occurred in those with low burnout risk pre-intervention (3.7–4.6, p = 0.02). Conclusions Gratitude and job crafting practices served as therapeutic interventions for individuals with high risk of burnout, but did not prevent progression in those with low burnout risk.