Who Benefits Most? A Multisite Study of Coaching and Resident Well-being
Open accessAbstract
Background Coaching has been shown to improve resident well-being; however, not all benefit equally.Objective Assess predictors of changes in resident physician well-being and burnout in a multisite implementation of a Professional Development Coaching Program.Design Pre- and post-implementation surveys administered to participant cohorts at implementation sites in their intern year. Effect size was calculated comparing pre- and post-intervention paired data.Participants In total, 272 residents in their intern year at five internal medicine residency programs (Boston Medical Center, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Duke University, Emory University, Massachusetts General Hospital). Analyses included 129 residents with paired data.Interventions Interns were paired with a faculty coach trained in positive psychology and coaching skills and asked to meet quarterly with coaches.Main measures Primary outcomes included Maslach Burnout Inventory depersonalization (DP) and emotional exhaustion (EE) subscales, and the PERMA well-being scale. Key predictors included site, demographics, intolerance of uncertainty, hardiness-resilience, gratitude, and coping. Program moderators included were reflection, goal setting, and feedback.Key results Well-being (PERMA) changed from baseline to follow-up in all participants; females showed a decline and males an increase (-1.41 vs. .83, p = 0.04). Self-reflection was associated with positive change in PERMA (mean positive change 1.93, p = 0.009). Burnout (EE) declined in non-Hispanic white residents vs. Black/Asian/Hispanic/other residents (-1.86, p = 0.021). Burnout improved with increased goal setting.Conclusion Coaching programs should consider tailored approaches to support residents whose well-being is impacted by gender and/or race, and who have higher intolerance of uncertainty and lower resilience at baseline. Coaching skills of goal setting and reflection may positively affect interns and teach coping skills.
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Being outside of specialty is a factor in coach selection.
“| Coach selection | Outside of specialty | [63,147,156] | |”
From Coaching in undergraduate and graduate medical education: a scoping review of success factors, barriers, and outcomes (2026) · cites this paper as [156]
Program negative outcomes occur.
“| Coaching outcomes | Program | Program negative outcomes | [34,138,156] |”
From Coaching in undergraduate and graduate medical education: a scoping review of success factors, barriers, and outcomes (2026) · cites this paper as [156]
In the coaching intervention subgroup, emotional exhaustion (EE) was significantly reduced: Cohen's d SMD -0.24 (95% CI -0.40 to -0.07, p = 0.04, I2 = 41.6%).
“Subgroup analyses of coaching intervention [59–72, 74, 75] demonstrated a post-intervention Cohen’s d SMD in EE (-0.24, 95% CI -0.40 to -0.07, p = 0.04, I2 = 41.6%).”
From Individual and organizational interventions to reduce burnout in resident physicians: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2024) · cites this paper as [65]
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- Authors
- Palamara, K., Chu, J. T., Chang, Y., Yu, L., Cosco, D., Higgins, S., Tulsky, A., Mourad, R., Singh, S., Steinhauser, K., & Donelan, K.
- Affiliations
- Massachusetts General Hospital (US)
- Washington University in St. Louis (US)
- Emory University (US)
- Boston Medical Center (US)
- University Hospitals of Cleveland (US)
- Duke University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Palamara, Kerri
- Venue
- Journal of General Internal Medicine
- Published
- 2021-06-07
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 539-547
- ISSN
- 0884-8734 (ISSN-L)
- 1525-1497
- PMC
- PMC8858365
- OpenAlex
- W3171555811
- Cited by
- 47
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 8
- FWCI
- 8.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of General Internal Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Arthur Vining Davis Foundations
- The Physicians Foundation
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Coaching Methods and Impact
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
- Keywords
- coaching, burnout, internal medicine residents, intern year, positive psychology, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, intolerance of uncertainty, resilience, gratitude, coping, goal setting, self-reflection, gender differences, racial differences, faculty coaching
- MeSH terms
- Mentoring, Burnout, Professional, Female, Humans, Internship and Residency, Male, Massachusetts, Surveys and Questionnaires
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