Table 3.
Findings from studies examining racial/ethnic differences in burnout
| Populations | Reference name | Sample | Study design | Sample size | Measure | Racial groups (N, %) | Key findingsa |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Faculty | Pololi et al. [40] | Faculty within Academic Health Centers (AHC) affiliated with the Association of Medical Colleges | Cross-sectional | 2218 | Single item answered using a 5-point Likert scale: “I feel burnt out” | UiM (512, 10%)b, non-UiM (1706, 90%) | No association |
| Lackritz [42] | Faculty | Cross-sectional | 265 | Maslach Burnout Inventory—Educators Survey | Non-Caucasian (40, 15.56%), American Indian (1, 0.39%), East Asian (11, 4.28%), Southeast Asian (1, 0.39%), South Asian (6, 2.33%), African American (7, 2.72%), Latinx (11, 4.28%), Middle Eastern (3, 1.17%), Caucasian (217, 84.44%) | No association | |
| Primack et al. [41] | Mixed (40% faculty; 23% residents/trainees; 23% medical students; 15% fellows/post-doctoral scholars) | Cross-sectional | 179 | Single item | Asian (31, 21%), white (95, 65%), other (20, 14%) | Positive association | |
| Physicians | Meredith et al. [43] | Physicians | Cross-sectional | 515 (191 PCCs; 324 staff) | Maslach Burnout Inventory—EE subscale | PCCs-Latinx (9, 5.1%); non-white, non-Latinx (74, 38.7%) | Negative association |
| Weintraub et al. [44] | Physicians | Cross-sectional | 593 | Compassion Fatigue and Satisfaction Self-Test for Helpers | Black (9, 2.2%), white (364, 87.5%), Hispanic (29, 7.3%), Asian (42, 10.1%), other (1, 0.2%) | No association | |
| Kroll et al. [45] | Physicians | Cross-sectional | 207 | Maslach Burnout Inventory—Human Services Survey | Black (6, 2.9%), Pacific Islander (3, 1.4%), Asian (29, 14.0%), white (142, 68.6%), other (16, 7.7%), prefer not to respond (11, 5.3%) | No association | |
| Cossman and Street [47] | Physicians | Cross-sectional | 1449 | Single item answered using the following scale: persistent, occasional, stressed (but no burnout), and no burnout | Black, white, otherb | No association | |
| Keswani et al. [46] | Physicians | Cross-sectional | 410 | Maslach Burnout Inventory | African American, white, Hispanic, Asian, other b | No association | |
| Residents/trainees | Afzal et al. [48] | Residents | Cross-sectional | 115 | Maslach Burnout Inventory—Human Services Survey | Caucasian (18, 15.7%), Asian or African (34, 29.6%), Hispanic (63, 54.8%) |
No association for EE and D compared to Hispanic for both groups Negative association for higher PA Hispanic/white; no association for Asian or African/Hispanic |
| Medical students | Cook et al. [49] | Medical students (year 3) | Cross-sectional | 564 | Two-item version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory—EE and D subscales | Asian (128, 23%), Black (48, 9%), Hispanic (28, 5%), white (329, 58%), other (31, 5%) | No association |
| Dyrbye et al. [50] | Medical students (years 1–4) | Cross-sectional | 1689 | Maslach Burnout Inventory |
Minority (410, 24%)—including African American (61), Hispanic (50), Asian (186), Native American (23), Pacific Islander (8), non-Caucasian other (82) Non-minority (1279, 76%) |
Negative association Among minority students, student reporting race as an adverse effect on MS experience, positive association |
|
| Dyrbye et al. [51] | Medical students (years 1–4) | Cross-sectional | 538 | Maslach Burnout Inventory |
Minority (84, 15.6%)—including African American (8), Hispanic (9, Asian (40), Native American (11), Pacific Islander (3), non-Caucasian other (13) Non-minority (454, 84.4%) |
No association Positive association for low PA |
|
| Dyrbye et al. [77] | Medical students (years 1–4) | Longitudinal | 792 | Maslach Burnout Inventory | Non-white (153, 19.9%), white (639, 80.1%) | Positive association for resiliency to burnout | |
| Chin et al. [52] | Medical students (years 1–5) | Cross-sectional | 452 | Copenhagen Burnout inventory | Malay (195), non-Malay (257) | No association | |
| Dyrbye et al. [55] | Medical students (years 1–4) | Cross-sectional | 1701 | Maslach Burnout Inventory | Non-white, whiteb | Negative association | |
| Premedical students | Fang et al. (2014) | Premedical students | Cross-sectional | 2059 (618 pre-med; 1441 non-pre-med) | Maslach Burnout Inventory—Student Survey | Asian (1141, 55.4%), Caucasian (539, 26.2%), Hispanic (203, 9.9%), other (176, 8.5%) | Positive association among pre-med Hispanic students compared to non-premed Hispanic students |
EE, emotional exhaustion; D, depersonalization; PA, personal accomplishment
aIn reference to UiM/minorities; positive association—more likely to have the outcome; negative association—less likely
bCounts and percentages not provided