Decreasing Physician Burnout With Professional Coaching

NCT05583435 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 22-001542
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 79
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this randomized control trial is to learn if professional coaching can help reduce physician burnout among physicians at UCLA. The main aims of the study are:

• To reduce burnout among physicians with professional coaching
• Improve work satisfaction and engagement, sense of self-efficacy and social support with professional coaching
• Determine the efficacy of one-on-one professional coaching and small group professional coaching combined with behavioral interventions/activities in reducing physician burnout and comparing these groups to one another and to a delayed-entry (control) group Participants will be randomly assigned into one of three groups:
• Intervention Group 1: One-on-one coaching (N=30). Six one-on-one coaching sessions via Zoom with one of two private professional coaches every other week for 3-4 months.
• Intervention Group 2: Coach-facilitated group sessions and coach-guided activities/behavioral interventions (N=30). Six small-group coaching sessions via Zoom with one of two private professional coaches and three physician participants in each group, every other week for 3-4 months.
• Delayed-Entry Group 3 (N=30): No intervention during duration of study period. Note: once participation in the pilot study has been completed for Groups 1 and 2, physicians participating in Group 3 will be offered to participate in six one-on-one sessions with a private professional coach over a 3-4 month period. Participants will complete several surveys that assess for burnout, work engagement and satisfaction, sense of social support and isolation, and areas of worklife) before the start, upon completion of the intervention and again at 6 months upon completion of the sessions for the delayed-entry group. Each group also received coach-guided activities/behavioral interventions during coaching sessions. These activities will be sent by coaches to participates throughout the 3 month period and include, but are not limited to: Wheel of Life, visioning exercise, one page miracle: core values, purpose, and goals, buckets and mental models.

Conditions

Burnout, Professional

Keywords

physician burnout; coaching; work engagement

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Burnout

  Physician burnout (as measured by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment) evaluated with the Maslach Inventory Scale

  90 days

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Areas of Worklife

  90 days

• Self-efficacy

  90 days

• Work Engagmement and Satisfaction

  90 days

• Social Support

  90 days

Study Arms (3)

One-on-one professional coaching

EXPERIMENTAL

One-on-one professional coaching (N=30). Six one-on-one coaching sessions via Zoom with one of two private professional coaches every other week for 3-4 months. The professional coaching method includes (but will not be limited to) the following themes: optimizing meaning and engagement in work, building social support and community, improving work efficiency, addressing workload and boundary setting, enhancing communication, and building leadership skills, pursuing hobbies and creation/innovation, and promoting self-compassion and self-care (with a focus on physical and mental health). Coach-guided activities/behavioral interventions are included with coaching sessions. These activities are reviewed with participants throughout the 3-4 month period and include, but are not limited to: Wheel of Life, visioning exercise, one page miracle: core values, purpose, and goals, buckets and mental models.

Behavioral: One-on-one professional coaching

Small-group professional coaching with coach-guided activities/behavioral internventions

EXPERIMENTAL

Coach-facilitated small group professional coaching sessions and coach-guided activities/behavioral interventions (N=30). Six small-group coaching sessions via Zoom with one of two private professional coaches and three physician participants in each group, every other week for 3-4 months. The professional coaching method is similar to those receiving 1:1 professional coaching. The primary difference in this intervention group is that coaching sessions will be group-based with 3 physician participants.

Behavioral: Small-group professional coaching

Delayed-entry group (placebo then one-on-one professional coaching)

EXPERIMENTAL

Delayed-Entry Group 3 (N=30). No intervention during the 90 day study period. Note: once participation in the pilot study has been completed for Groups 1 and 2, physicians participating in Group 3 will be offered to participate in six one-on-one sessions with a private professional coach over a 3 month period. The professional coaching method includes (but will not be limited to) the following themes: optimizing meaning and engagement in work, building social support and community, improving work efficiency, addressing workload and boundary setting, enhancing communication, and building leadership skills, pursuing hobbies and creation/innovation, and promoting self-compassion and self-care (with a focus on physical and mental health).

Behavioral: One-on-one professional coaching

Interventions

One-on-one professional coaching BEHAVIORAL

One-on-one professional coaching

Delayed-entry group (placebo then one-on-one professional coaching); One-on-one professional coaching

Small-group professional coaching BEHAVIORAL

Small-group professional coaching

Small-group professional coaching with coach-guided activities/behavioral internventions

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Actively practicing UCLA department of medicine physicians who had at least two years of employment at UCLA

You may not qualify if:

• Current or anticipated (in the next 6 months) participation in one-on-one or group coaching provided by a professional coach

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of California, Los Angeles: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of California, Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California, 90095, United States

Location

Related Publications (11)

• Maslach C, Jackson SE, Leiter MP. Maslach Burnout Inventory. 4th ed. Menlo Park, CA: Mind Garden; 2016

  BACKGROUND

• Leiter MP, Maslach C. Six areas of worklife: a model of the organizational context of burnout. J Health Hum Serv Adm. 1999 Spring;21(4):472-89.

  PMID: 10621016 BACKGROUND

• New General Self Efficacy Scale: Chen, G., Gully, S. M., & Eden, D. (2001). Validation of a new general self-efficacy scale. Organizational research methods, 4(1), 62-83

  BACKGROUND

• Utrecht Work Engagement Scale: Schaufeli W, Bakker A. UWES: Utrecht Work Engagement Scale: preliminary manual [version 1.1, December 2004]. https://www.wilmarschaufeli.nl/publications/Schaufeli/Test%20Manuals/Test_manual_UWES_English.pdf.

  BACKGROUND

• Hahn EA, DeWalt DA, Bode RK, Garcia SF, DeVellis RF, Correia H, Cella D; PROMIS Cooperative Group. New English and Spanish social health measures will facilitate evaluating health determinants. Health Psychol. 2014 May;33(5):490-9. doi: 10.1037/hea0000055. Epub 2014 Jan 20.

  PMID: 24447188 BACKGROUND

• Social Provisions Scale: Cutrona CE, Russell DW. The provisions of social relationships and adaptation to stress. Advances in Personal Relationships. 1987;1:37-67.

  BACKGROUND

• Dyrbye LN, Varkey P, Boone SL, Satele DV, Sloan JA, Shanafelt TD. Physician satisfaction and burnout at different career stages. Mayo Clin Proc. 2013 Dec;88(12):1358-67. doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2013.07.016.

  PMID: 24290109 BACKGROUND

• Han S, Shanafelt TD, Sinsky CA, Awad KM, Dyrbye LN, Fiscus LC, Trockel M, Goh J. Estimating the Attributable Cost of Physician Burnout in the United States. Ann Intern Med. 2019 Jun 4;170(11):784-790. doi: 10.7326/M18-1422. Epub 2019 May 28.

  PMID: 31132791 BACKGROUND

• Panagioti M, Panagopoulou E, Bower P, Lewith G, Kontopantelis E, Chew-Graham C, Dawson S, van Marwijk H, Geraghty K, Esmail A. Controlled Interventions to Reduce Burnout in Physicians: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Intern Med. 2017 Feb 1;177(2):195-205. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.7674.

  PMID: 27918798 BACKGROUND

• Dyrbye LN, Shanafelt TD, Gill PR, Satele DV, West CP. Effect of a Professional Coaching Intervention on the Well-being and Distress of Physicians: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2019 Oct 1;179(10):1406-1414. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.2425.

  PMID: 31380892 BACKGROUND

• Khalili J, Miotto K, Wang T, Mafi JN, Kyababchyan E, Sanford J, Elashoff D, Brook J, Adebambo Y, Smith PI, Nguyen E, Yoo SM. Professional Coaching to Reduce Physician Burnout: A Randomized Clinical Trial. J Gen Intern Med. 2025 Jul 11. doi: 10.1007/s11606-025-09653-w. Online ahead of print.

  PMID: 40643743 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Burnout, Professional

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Occupational Stress; Occupational Diseases; Burnout, Psychological; Stress, Psychological; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior

Study Officials

• Joshua Khalili, MD

  University of California, Los Angeles

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: October 13, 2022
• First Posted: October 17, 2022
• Study Start: March 2, 2023
• Primary Completion: April 13, 2024
• Study Completion: April 13, 2024
• Last Updated: March 27, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)