Article Figures & Data
Figures
- Figure 1.
Percentage of responses to the 3-item University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale
Tables
Characteristic N (%)* Characteristic N (%) Gender Primary employer Male 171 (46.3) Self-employed 80 (20.0) Female 196 (53.1) Physician group 71 (19.2) Other 2 (0.6) University owned clinic or hospital 48 (13.0) Missing 33 Private for-profit hospital or health system 20 (5.4) Age, years Private non-profit hospital or health system 86 (23.3) Mean ± SD 50.2 ± 11.1 Managed care or insurance company 10 (2.7) Age group Federal, state, or local government, community board, etc. 25 (6.8) 25–34 26 (7.1) Locum tenens group/staffing organization 3 (0.8) 35–44 99 (27.0) Medical school 10 (2.7) 45–54 111 (30.3) Other 16 (4.3) 55–64 84 (23.0) Missing† 32 ≥65 46 (12.6) Primary patient care location Missing† 35 Privately-owned medical practice 171 (46.5) Employment status Federally Qualified Community Health Center 37 (10.1) Full-time 331 (84.4) Other clinic 104 (28.3) Part-time 49 (12.5) Hospital (not emergency department) 7 (1.9) Fully retired 8 (2.0) Hospital (emergency department) 3 (0.8) Not in workforce for other reasons 4 (1.0) Urgent care facility 12 (3.3) Missing† 9 Institutional residential facility (student health, prisons, nursing homes) 12 (3.3) Specialty Do not see patients in primary setting 13 (3.5) Family medicine 359 (97.6) Other 9 (2.4) General internal medicine 2 (0.5) Missing† 33 Emergency medicine 1 (0.3) Percentage of work time in clinical practice Pediatrics — <50% 94 (24.3) Obstetrics/gynecology — 50% 13 (3.4) Other 6 (1.6) >50% 280 (72.4) Missing† 33 Missing 14 Years in clinical practice Percentage of work time in administration/managerial Mean ± SD 18.9 ± 11.3 <50% 344 (88.9) Minimum <1 (0.8) 50% 10 (2.6) Maximum 51 (0.3) >50% 33 (8.5) Missing† 33 Missing 14 Practice location Percentage of work time in research Urban 307 (85.0) <50% 386 (96.3) Large rural 26 (7.2) 50% - Small rural 21 (5.8) >50% 1 (0.3) Isolated 7 (1.9) Missing† 14 Missing† 40 Percentage of work time in teaching Membership <50% 375 (96.9) AAFP Member Insight Exchange 288 (71.8) 50% 4 (1.0) AAFP NRN Member 113 (28.2) >50% 8 (2.1) Missing† 14 AAFP, American Academy of Family Physicians; NRN, National Research Network.
↵* Results presented as number (N) and percentage (%) unless denoted otherwise.
↵† The number of physicians who completed the survey but did not provide an answer to this specific question. Missing responses were excluded from the total before percentages were calculated.
SD, standard deviation.
- Table 2.
Loneliness, Burnout, Depression, and Fatigue Among Physicians Who Participated in the Study, (n = 401)
Characteristic All Participants (n = 401) Female (n = 196) Male (n = 171) P value N (%)* N (%)* N (%)* Loneliness Mean ± SD 5.3 ± 1.9 5.6 ± 1.9 5.1 ± 1.9 .012 Prevalence of loneliness Screened as lonely 165 (44.9) 95 (48.7) 68 (40.5) .091 Screened as not lonely 202 (55.0) 100 (51.3) 100 (59.5) .211 Missing† 34 1 3 Burnout Index‡ Emotional exhaustion: high scoref 135 (33.7) 84 (43.1) 51 (30.4) .008 Depersonalization: high scoref 138 (34.4) 84 (43.1) 54 (32.1) .019 Burned out 181 (45.1) 111 (56.9) 70 (41.7) .004 Depression Screened positive for depression 163 (44.3) 100 (51.0) 63 (36.8) .004 Missing† 33 — — Fatigue§ Mean ± SD 5.8 ± 2.4 5.3 ± 2.4 6.3 ± 2.3 <.001 Level of fatigue in the past week Low 182 (53.1) 82 (44.8) 99 (63.1) <.001 High 161 (46.9) 101 (55.2) 58 (36.9) <.001 Missing† 58 13 14 ↵* Results presented as number (N) and percentage (%) unless denoted otherwise.
↵† The number of physicians who completed the survey but did not provide an answer to this specific question. Missing responses were excluded from the total before percentages were calculated.
‡ We assessed burnout using 2 single-item measures for emotional exhaustion and depersonalization adapted from the full Maslach Burnout Inventory.
↵f High score on Emotional Exhaustion and/or Depersonalization subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory.
↵§ Scores ranged from 0 to 10, with a low mean fatigue score suggesting higher or worsened fatigue.
SD, standard deviation.
Variable Odds Ratio (95% CI) P value Age, years 25–34 1.86 (0.87-3.95) .534 35–44 1.30 (0.63-2.70) .103 45–54 2.35 (1.13-4.93) .386 55–64 1.33 (0.48- 3.66) .088 >64 Reference — Gender Female 1.40 (0.92-2.12) .999 Male Reference — Employment status Part-time 1.28 (0.69-2.38) .152 Full-time Reference Years in clinical practice (for additional year in practice) 1.02 (1.00-1.04) .019 Practice location Urban 0.57 (0.10-3.38) .861 Large rural 0.97 (0.18-5.29) .979 Small rural 1.13 (0.25-5.13) .487 Isolated Reference Membership AAFP Member Insight Exchange 1.11 (0.69-1.79) .662 AAFP NRN member Reference Depression Screened positive 5.08 (4.64-7.94) <.001 Screen negative Reference — Manifestations of burnout Burned out 4.61 (2.96-7.19) <.001 Not burnout Reference — Emotional exhaustion High score 7.19 (4.03-12.02) <.001 Moderate score 2.85 (1.59-5.10) <.001 Low score Reference — Depersonalization High score 4.76 (2.58-8.77) <0.001 Moderate score 1.45 (0.79-2.65) .251 Low score Reference — Level of fatigue High degree 4.63 (1.91-7.63) <0.001 Low degree Reference — AAFP, American Academy of Family Physicians; CI, confidence interval; NRN, National Research Network.
- Table 4.
Relationship of Burnout, Depression, and Fatigue with Loneliness Among the Physicians
Variable Loneliness χ2 P value Phi Lonely N (%) Nonlonely N (%) Manifestation of burnout 47.95 <.001 0.357 Present 114 (69.1) 67 (37.0) Not present 51 (27.4) 135 (72.6) Total 165 (45.0) 202 (55.0) Depression 55.10 <.001 0.384 Screened positive for depression 107 (66.0) 55 (34.0) Screened negative for depression 56 (27.6) 147 (72.4) Total 163 (44.7) 202 (55.3) Level of fatigue 25.32 <.001 0.271 High degree 94 (59.5) 64 (40.5) Low degree 59 (32.4) 123 (67.6) Total 153 (45.0) 187 (55.0)
