Understanding Physician Burnout: The Role of Cognitive Emotion Regulation beyond Job Demands-Resources

Description

Sonalipa Chatterjee¹, Moumita Mukherjee², and Atanu Kumar Dogra³ (Department of Psychology, SoHMS, Adamas University Kolkata, West Bengal¹, Research and Development, Adamas University Kolkata, West Bengal², and Department of Psychology, University of Calcutta, West Bengal³)

Drawing on the Job Demand-Resource (JD-R) model, burnout among physicians is increasingly attributed to imbalance between demands and resources. Cognitive emotion regulation as a personal resource contribute to burnout symptoms after accounting for the traditional predictors of job demands and job resources. This study examined whether CER strategies (measured by the CERQ-Short) explain additional variance in burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment) beyond job demands and resources among 222 physicians in suburban government hospitals in West Bengal, India, using a hierarchical multiple regression approach. In Model 1, job demands (workload, emotional demands, etc.) were entered; in Model 2, job resources (e.g., autonomy, social support, etc.) were added; and in Model 3, cognitive emotion regulations (adaptive vs. maladaptive strategies from the CERQ-Short) were added. Results showed that greater job demands significantly predicted burnout (higher EE & DP; lower PA) adding resources improved model fit. In Model 2, higher autonomy and social support predicted lower burnout (EE), partially buffering demands. Importantly, including emotion regulation strategies (Model 3) further increased explained variance. Maladaptive strategies (rumination) were strong positive predictors of burnout, whereas adaptive strategies (acceptance, putting into perspective) predicted lower burnout (EE), beyond job factors. These novel findings highlighted that physicians’ coping styles significantly shape burnout risk. The results are discussed in light of the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model and emotion regulation theory. Practically, initiatives for reducing excessive job demands and strengthening resources (e.g., social support, autonomy, etc.) remain important, as well as scheduling training for adaptive cognitive emotion regulation for physicians. Government policymakers and hospital administration should consider both organizational changes and coping-skills interventions to mitigate physician burnout and safeguard patient-care quality.