A recent study provides insight into multiple factors of wellbeing for dental school faculty, including burnout, loneliness and resiliency.
The study was published Nov. 15 in the American Dental Education Association’s Journal of Dental Education, according to a Dec. 22 news release from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry in Richmond.
The study was led by Carlos Smith, DDS, an associate professor at the university who also serves as the director of diversity, equity and inclusion and director of ethics curriculum.
The study was conducted in September and October of 2020. Researchers surveyed 216 faculty members from VCU School of Dentistry, the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry in Minneapolis, the University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine in Boston.
Five notes:
- Overall, results of the study were not significantly worse than before the pandemic, however, rates of burnout and loneliness remained higher for dental faculty than the general public.
- On a scale of one to five — five indicating extreme burnout and one indicating no burnout — average personal burnout of respondents was 2.7 and work-related burnout was 2.8. Both measures decreased as the age of study participants increased.
- On a scale of one to five with higher scores indicating increased resilience, the average score was 3.6.
- Respondents were asked to add up the scores for three items on a scale of nine to measure their loneliness. Respondents with results totaling six or more were considered lonely. The average loneliness score was 4.8, with nearly one-third of responding dental faculty considered lonely.
- When asked about the aspects that bring them the most stress, full-time faculty said administrative responsibilities are the most stressful part of their job, while part-time faculty said clinical care is most stressful. When asked about what brought them the most joy, all respondents said teaching.