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The Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Burnout in a Regional Sample of Physicians

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Abstract

Objective

Little research has occurred in physicians on the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and their potential correlation with burnout. The authors hypothesized that there would be a relationship between burnout levels and ACE scores, with physicians reporting more burnout being likely to have higher ACE scores.

Methods

Three hundred physicians completed the ten-question ACE scale and two burnout scales, the Mini-Z, and two items from the Maslach Burnout Inventory.

Results

One hundred and thirty eight (46%) of the physicians were positive on one or the other of the two burnout measures, and 49% of the respondents were positive for at least one ACE, while 9% were positive for four or more ACEs. The most common ACEs reported by the group were having a family member being depressed, being mentally ill, or attempting suicide (22%). The burnout measures correlated strongly with each other (r = 0.68, p < .001), and separate logistic regression models revealed that the physicians with an ACE score of 4 or more had more than two and half times the risk of burnout on either burnout scale measured.

Conclusions

In this group of physicians, almost half reported experiencing ACEs, and half reported symptoms of burnout. The research hypothesis, which physicians reporting more burnout would be more likely to have higher ACE scores, was supported. It is possible that ACEs are a vulnerability factor in physicians for the development of burnout. This possibility and potential protective factors should be further studied.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank all members of the Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society Advisory Committee for the Joy of Medicine Program for their input and support.

Funding

This publication was made possible by a grant from The Physicians Foundation and by funding from the Department of Psychiatry, University of California Davis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA

    Peter Yellowlees & Michelle Burke Parish

  2. Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society, Sacramento, CA, USA

    Lindsay Coate & Aileen E. Wetzel

  3. Kaiser Permanente Medical Group, Sacramento, CA, USA

    Rajiv Misquitta

Authors
  1. Peter Yellowlees
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  2. Lindsay Coate
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  3. Rajiv Misquitta
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  4. Aileen E. Wetzel
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  5. Michelle Burke Parish
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter Yellowlees.

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Reviewed retrospectively by University of California Davis IRB and deemed “exempt.”

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On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

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Yellowlees, P., Coate, L., Misquitta, R. et al. The Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Burnout in a Regional Sample of Physicians. Acad Psychiatry 45, 159–163 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-020-01381-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-020-01381-z

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