Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Dec 16, 2022
Open Peer Review Period: Dec 16, 2022 - Feb 10, 2023
Date Accepted: May 12, 2023
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Evaluating the Mental-Health of Physician-Trainees Using a Text-Based Assessment Tool: A Pilot Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Physician burnout is a multi-billion dollar issue in the United States. Despite its prevalence, burnout is difficult to accurately measure. Institutions generally rely on periodic surveys that are subject to recall bias. Text-based surveys are used in healthcare and have the advantage of high response rates.
Objective:
In this pilot project, we utilized a simple, longitudinal text-based survey system to evaluate the mental-health of physician-trainees. The goal of the text-based survey was to track stress, burnout, empathy, engagement, and work satisfaction levels faced by users’ in their native environments (i.e. their normal working conditions).
Methods:
Three text-questions per week for five weeks were sent to participants. All data received was de-identified. Each participant had a de-identified personal webpage to follow their scores and the aggregated scores of all participants over time. A 13-question optional survey was sent at the conclusion of the study to evaluate usability of the platform.
Results:
82 participants were recruited and answered at least six text-questions (range: 6–16 questions, average & median: 14 questions) for 1113 total responses. 12 participants responded to the optional feedback survey.
Conclusions:
Responses demonstrated that text-based mental health assessments are useful for recording physician-trainee mental-health levels in real time with minimal burden.
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