An Investigation of Organizational Correlates of Distress in Non-Clinician Biomedical Researchers in the United States

Abstract

Purpose

Challenges ushered by the COVID-19 pandemic led to an increased focus on the mental well-being of the healthcare workforce. Despite the important contribution non-clinician biomedical researchers make to the mission of academic medical centers, the well-being of this unique population remains understudied in the United States. The purpose of this study was to examine the individual and organizational correlates of distress among non-clinician biomedical researchers.

Methods

A survey was delivered to employees of a large academic medical center in the southeastern United States, including non-clinician biomedical researchers. Participants were asked to assess their own well-being using the validated Well-Being Index (WBI) tool, resilience, work and nonwork-related stressors and demographic descriptors. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses were conducted, and binary logistic regression was used to examine predictors of increased odds of overall distress.

Results

Nearly 44% of surveyed non-clinician biomedical researchers met the threshold for high distress which indicates an increased risk of suicidal ideation, turnover intention, and burnout. The major correlates of distress were at the organizational level, including perceived organizational support (OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.70–0.90), heavy workload and long hours (OR 3.25, 95% CI 1.53–6.88), inability or lack of support to take time off (OR 2.80, 95% CI 1.03–7.66) and conflict with supervisor (OR 5.03, 95% CI 1.13–22.1). While lower individual resilience (OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.54–0.88) was statistically significantly associated with greater distress, it accounted for less than 10% of the overall variance when controlling for other work-related factors.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that developing organizational interventions that address institutional support for non-clinician biomedical researchers within academic medical centers represents an important opportunity to reduce distress within this population. While emphasizing individual resiliency as an important in the pursuit of well-being, it is also the responsibility of the organization to create and foster an environment in which employees can access their own resilience.

Keywords:

• burnout
• job satisfaction
• well-being
• academic medical center

Data Sharing Statement

De-identified data are available upon request.

Ethical Approval

This study received approval from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Institutional Review Board (300006629). This study was conducted in accordance with the World Medical Association (WMA) Declaration of Helsinki.

Acknowledgments

Authors would like to thank the non-clinician biomedical researchers who took the time to participate in this survey.

Author Contributions

All authors significantly contributed to the study design, acquisition of data, data analysis, article drafting, and article revision. All authors have agreed on the journal placement, gave final approval of the version to be published, and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by a grant from the ProAssurance Corporation to David A. Rogers. We also thank the NIH/NIGMS Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (K12 GM088010 to LMB).