Adaptive and maladaptive humor styles are closely associated with burnout and professional fulfillment in members of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (356)

Abstract

<b>Objectives:</b> Individual differences in humor styles (adaptive: affiliative, self-enhancing; maladaptive: aggressive, self-defeating) are associated with numerous mental health measures. Burnout (BO) and professional fulfillment (PF) are two distinct measures that affect personal and professional well-being. This study examined the relationship of humor styles with PF and BO among Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) members. <b>Methods:</b> SGO members were surveyed in November 2020. The survey included 64 questions (32-item Humor Styles Questionnaire, 16-item Stanford Professional Fulfillment Index, and 16-item demographic and practice characteristics). Differences among faculty physicians (FAC), physician trainees (Res/Fel), and advanced practice providers (APP) were compared using two-tailed t-tests for continuous variables and Chi-square tests for categorical variables. Multivariable linear regression adjusted the association of humor styles with BO and PF for possible confounders. <b>Results:</b> Of 1982 SGO members invited to participate, 321 (16.2%) returned surveys, including 222 (69.4%) FAC, 75 (23.4%) Res/Fel, and 23 (7.2%) APP. All categories of respondents scored highest for affiliative humor and lowest for aggressive humor. There were no significant differences between provider types in the use of adaptive humor styles. For maladaptive styles, Res/Fel were significantly more likely to employ both aggressive (FAC vs Res/Fel, p=0.017; Res/Fel vs APP, p=0.011) and self-defeating (FAC vs Res/Fel, p=0.011; Res/Fel vs APP, p=0.004) styles than FAC and APP. Ninety-five (29.7%) respondents met the criteria for BO, and 163 (50.9%) had professional fulfillment. There were no differences in BO among provider types. FAC was significantly more fulfilled than Res/Fel (2.83±0.88 vs 2.59±0.83, p=0.038). For adjusted BO analyses, BO was negatively associated with self-enhancing humor and positively associated with self-defeating humor (Table 1). Further, being a trainee (p=0.010) and being >55 years old (p=0.008) were protective for BO, whereas working >60 hours per week was led to higher BO (p=0.008). In adjusted analyses, PF was positively associated with self-enhancing humor and negatively associated with self-defeating humor (Table 1). Spending over 10% of work hours on non-patient care activities was negatively associated with PF (p=0.008). Table 1 <b>Conclusions:</b> Among SGO respondents, 29.7% were burned out, and 50.9% were fulfilled. Beyond advocating for less working hours and less administrative duties, humor-based interventions focused on increasing the use of self-enhancing and reducing the use of selfdefeating humor may lead to less BO and greater PF in SGO members, especially among trainees.