Decreasing Physician Burnout With Professional Coaching

NCT ID: NCT05583435

Last Updated: 2025-03-27

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

Get a concise snapshot of the trial, including recruitment status, study phase, enrollment targets, and key timeline milestones.

Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

79 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2023-03-02

Study Completion Date

2024-04-13

Brief Summary

Review the sponsor-provided synopsis that highlights what the study is about and why it is being conducted.

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.

Detailed Description

Dive into the extended narrative that explains the scientific background, objectives, and procedures in greater depth.

Conditions

See the medical conditions and disease areas that this research is targeting or investigating.

Burnout, Professional

Study Design

Understand how the trial is structured, including allocation methods, masking strategies, primary purpose, and other design elements.

Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

Review each arm or cohort in the study, along with the interventions and objectives associated with them.

One-on-one professional coaching

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.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

One-on-one professional coaching

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

One-on-one professional coaching

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

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.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Small-group professional coaching

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Small-group professional coaching

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

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).

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

One-on-one professional coaching

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

One-on-one professional coaching

Interventions

Learn about the drugs, procedures, or behavioral strategies being tested and how they are applied within this trial.

One-on-one professional coaching

One-on-one professional coaching

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Small-group professional coaching

Small-group professional coaching

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Check the participation requirements, including inclusion and exclusion rules, age limits, and whether healthy volunteers are accepted.

Inclusion Criteria

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

Exclusion Criteria

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

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

Meet the organizations funding or collaborating on the study and learn about their roles.

University of California, Los Angeles

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

Identify the individual or organization who holds primary responsibility for the study information submitted to regulators.

Joshua N. Khalili, MD

Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Learn about the lead researchers overseeing the trial and their institutional affiliations.

Joshua Khalili, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of California, Los Angeles

Locations

Explore where the study is taking place and check the recruitment status at each participating site.

University of California, Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California, United States

Site Status

Countries

Review the countries where the study has at least one active or historical site.

United States

References

Explore related publications, articles, or registry entries linked to this study.

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

Reference Type 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.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 10621016 (View on PubMed)

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

Reference Type 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.

Reference Type 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.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 24447188 (View on PubMed)

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

Reference Type 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.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 24290109 (View on PubMed)

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.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 31132791 (View on PubMed)

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.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 27918798 (View on PubMed)

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.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 31380892 (View on PubMed)

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.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 40643743 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

Review additional registry numbers or institutional identifiers associated with this trial.

22-001542

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

More Related Trials

Additional clinical trials that may be relevant based on similarity analysis.