The Relationship Between Depression, Anxiety, and Burnout Among Physician Assistant Students: A Multi-Institutional Study

Purpose

Burnout, depression and anxiety are common in medical students; however, there is limited research on these outcomes in Physician Assistant (PA) students. With a growing number of PA education programs, examining this issue in PA students can provide important information that can ultimately affect the quality of educational outcomes and future health care delivery.

Methods

All Virginia PA programs (n = 8) in 2018 participated in a cross-sectional study. Students received a recruitment email providing a link to an anonymous survey. Participants completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-SS) student version, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener (GAD-7), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2) and provided demographic information. We used two hierarchical linear regression models to assess the ability of depression and anxiety to predict emotional exhaustion and cynicism, respectively, while controlling for sociodemographic variables. The first regression model utilized emotional exhaustion as the dependent variable while the second examines cynicism.

Results

The sample consisted of 320 PA students (response rate = 32%). Twenty-three percent were at risk for depression; 43% met criteria for moderate to severe anxiety. Both anxiety (β = 0.53; p < .001), and depression (β = .91; p < .001), significantly predicted emotional exhaustion. There was a significant association between depression cynicism (β = 2.1.; p < .001).

Conclusion

To our knowledge, this is the first examining the relationship between depression, anxiety and burnout in PA students. Our findings are similar to those from studies among medical students indicating these issues need to be addressed in PA students.