Mindfulness Applications: Can They Serve as a Stress, Anxiety, and Burnout Reduction Tool in Orthopaedic Surgery Training? A Randomized Control Trial.
Lauren M Boden, Christian Rodriguez, John D Kelly, Amrit S Khalsa, David S Casper
JB & JS open access July 25, 2023 DOI: 10.2106/jbjs.oa.22.00114 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 24 |
| Population | Orthopaedic surgery residents |
| Intervention | Mindfulness-based phone application |
| Duration | 2 months |
| Measures | Perceived Stress Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Maslach Burnout Inventory (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment subscores) |
| Topics | Anxiety Meditation |
| Key findings | After two months, the mindfulness app group had significantly decreased stress (mean -7.42), anxiety (mean -6.16), emotional exhaustion (mean -10.83), and depersonalization (mean -5.17), while the control group showed no significant changes. The authors conclude that a mindfulness-based phone app can help decrease resident stress, anxiety, and burnout, with benefits seen from only modest use. |
Abstract
Stress and burnout are prevalent within the orthopaedic surgery community. Mindfulness techniques have been shown to improve wellness, yet traditional courses are generally time-intensive with low surgeon utilization. We sought to determine whether the introduction of a simple mindfulness-based phone application would help decrease stress, anxiety, and burnout in orthopaedic surgery residents.
Methods: Twenty-four residents participated in this prospective, randomized controlled trial. After simple 1:1 randomization, the treatment group received access to a mindfulness-based phone application for 2 months while the control group did not receive access. All participants completed the Perceived Stress Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, and Maslach Burnout Inventory with emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and personal accomplishment subscores to measure stress, anxiety, and burnout at baseline and after 2 months. Paired t tests were used to compare baseline scores and conclusion scores for both groups.
Results: There was no difference in baseline burnout scores between groups, but the treatment group had higher stress and anxiety scores at baseline. On average, the treatment group spent approximately 8 minutes per day, 2 days per week using the mindfulness application. After 2 months, the treatment group had significantly decreased stress (mean = -7.42, p = 0.002), anxiety (mean = -6.16, p = 0.01), EE (mean = -10.83 ± 10.72, p = 0.005), and DP (mean = -5.17 ± 5.51, p = 0.01). The control group did not have any significant differences in stress, anxiety, or burnout subscores.
Conclusions: Use of a mindfulness-based phone app for 2 months led to significant reductions in stress, anxiety, and burnout scores in orthopaedic surgery residents. Our results support the use of a mindfulness-based app to help decrease orthopaedic resident stress, anxiety, and burnout. Benefits were seen with only modest use, suggesting that intensive mindfulness training programs may not be necessary to effect a change in well-being. The higher baseline stress and anxiety in the treatment group may suggest that mindfulness techniques are particularly effective in those who perceive residency to be more stressful. Level of evidence: I.