Burnout amongst chiropractic faculty, practitioners, and trainees: a scoping review

Objective: The purpose of this scoping review was to summarize the literature pertaining to burnout and chiropractic.

Methods: A literature review was performed in accordance with Preferred Reporting of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). A literature review was performed by combining the term "chiropractic" with terms relevant to professional burnout (e.g., "work-related stress," "emotional exhaustion"). We included all publications addressing burnout within the chiropractic profession, including all study designs in only peer-reviewed literature.

Results: Our search yielded 126 citations and 10 met the inclusion criteria. The studies identified consisted of eight surveys and two narrative reviews published from 2011 to 2024. Six of the studies utilized the Maslach Burnout Inventory to assess burnout. Chiropractic students reported greater burnout than the general population. Factors reported to increase burnout risk include higher workload, insurance mandates, and physical demands of daily practice. Factors reported to be protective against burnout included longer duration in clinical practice and philosophy-based practices.

Conclusions: Research on burnout within the chiropractic profession is limited and may not be generalizable. However, the reported factors contributing to burnout are well-documented. Future research should be conducted to improve understanding of the prevalence and causes of burnout in chiropractic.