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

Figures & data

Table 1 Sample Characteristics of Non-Clinician Biomedical Researchers from a Southeastern Academic Medical Center from June to July 2021 (n = 245)

	M (SD)	%	p^a
Distress (WBI Score ≥ 2)	0.44 (0.50)	43.67
Perceived Organizational Support (3–15)^b	9.73 (2.89)		0.000***
Heavy workload or long hours as a major stressor^c	0.31 (0.46)	30.61	0.000***
Inability or lack of support to take time off as a major stressor^c	0.15 (0.35)	14.69	0.000***
Conflict with colleagues as a major stressor^c	0.11 (0.32)	11.43	0.019*
Conflict with supervisor as a major stressor^c	0.10 (0.30)	10.20	0.000***
Resilience (0–8)^b	6.42 (1.30)		0.001**
Moral Distress Frequency (1–5)^d	0.70 (1.04)		0.000***
Gender^c			0.128
Male		29.80
Female or Sexual Minority		62.22
Prefer not to answer		8.98
Race^c			0.201
White		54.29
Non-White		32.65
Prefer not to answer		13.06

Notes: ^aSignificance of Logistic regression, Chi-squared Test, or Fisher’s Exact Test, determining the association between distress and the predicting variable. ^bLogistic Regression. ^cChi-squared test. ^dFisher’s Exact test. * <0.05, ** <0.01, *** <0.001.

Abbreviations: M, mean; SD, standard deviation; %, percent of participants who responded “Yes”; WBI, Well-Being Index Distress Score (score ranges from −2 to 9).

Table 2 Logistic Regression Analysis Predicting Odds of High Distress (WBI ≥ 2) for Non-Clinician Biomedical Researchers (n = 245)

	OR (SE)	95% CI	p
Perceived Organizational Support (3–15)	0.79 (0.05)	0.70–0.90	0.000***
Heavy workload or long hours as a major stressor	3.25 (1.24)	1.53–6.88	0.002**
Inability or lack of support to take time off as a major stressor	2.80 (1.44)	1.03–7.66	0.045*
Conflict with colleagues as a major stressor	1.80 (0.97)	0.63–5.16	0.271
Conflict with supervisor as a major stressor	5.03 (3.80)	1.13–22.1	0.033*
Resilience (0-8)	0.69 (0.09)	0.54–0.88	0.003**
Moral Distress frequency (1–5)	1.39 (0.31)	0.89–2.16	0.144
Gender (Ref = Male)
Female or Sexual Minority	1.46 (0.54)	0.71–3.01	0.298
Prefer not to answer	2.65 (2.47)	0.43–16.5	0.295
Race (Ref = White)
Non-White	0.76 (0.26)	0.39–1.48	0.428
Prefer not to answer	1.01 (0.84)	0.20–5.16	0.987

Note: *p<0.05, ** <0.01, *** <0.001.

Abbreviations: OR, odds ratio; SE, standard error; Ref, reference.

Table 3 Contribution of Predictors to Overall Variance in Distress in Non-Clinician Biomedical Researchers (WBI ≥ 2) (n = 245)

	Standardized Dominance Statistic	Ranking
Perceived Organizational Support	0.2789	1
Heavy workload or long hours as a major stressor	0.1839	2
Conflict with supervisor as a major stressor	0.1308	3
Inability or lack of support to take time off as a major stressor	0.1286	4
Moral Distress	0.1111	5
Resilience	0.0997	6
Conflict with colleagues	0.0354	7
Gender	0.0292	8
Race	0.0024	9