Hope, Burnout, and Life Satisfaction: An Intriguing Trinity Among Investigators of the SWOG Cancer Research Network

Abstract

PURPOSE: Although hope has been explored in patients, few studies have investigated hopefulness in health care professionals. We surveyed oncology professionals within the SWOG Cancer Research Network, exploring relationships among personal hopefulness, social support, work stress, burnout, and life satisfaction. We hypothesized that hope would mediate the relationships between these other variables and life satisfaction. METHODS: SWOG members were randomly selected for an online survey containing measures of hope, social support, work stress, burnout, and satisfaction with life. Of 1,000 invitees, 226 responded. RESULTS: We tested a multiple mediational model using Hayes' bootstrapping approach (ie, PROCESS v3.4). As hypothesized, hope partially mediated the relationships between burnout and life satisfaction as well as between social support and life satisfaction. In particular, hopefulness was associated with lower burnout (−0.23; P = .005), greater social support (0.23; P = .005), and greater life satisfaction (0.50; P < .001). Work stress was associated with greater burnout (0.57; P < .001) but was not associated with general life satisfaction. Finally, social support was associated with lower burnout (−0.16; P = .005) and greater life satisfaction (0.24; P < .001). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that hope may mitigate the effects of burnout. The combination of hope and social support may prove helpful for reducing burnout and improving life satisfaction. Single-session hope-enhancement interventions incorporating both hope and social support have previously been shown to increase hope and well-being in non–health care professionals. Such interventions for health care providers warrant further study.