Evaluation of the relationship between professional quality of life and smartphone addiction among family medicine residents
Elif GUNES and Velittin Selçuk ENGIN
Family medicine residents work under high clinical workload, emotional demands, and continuous accessibility requirements, which may adversely affect their professional quality of life. With the integration of smartphones into clinical practice, physicians are increasingly exposed to work-related digital demands beyond working hours. Excessive and problematic smartphone use has been associated with burnout and psychological distress in healthcare professionals; however, evidence focusing on family medicine residents and professional quality of life subdimensions remains limited. Exploring this relationship is essential to support physician well-being in primary care settings.This study aimed to investigate the association between smartphone addiction and professional quality of life among family medicine residents, with a specific focus on compassion satisfaction, burnout, and compassion fatigue.This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among family medicine residents. Data were collected using an online self-administered questionnaire including sociodemographic characteristics, the Smartphone Addiction Scale–Short Version, and the Professional Quality of Life Scale. Associations between smartphone addiction and professional quality of life and its subdimensions were analyzed using appropriate statistical methods.A total of 305 family medicine residents were included in the study. Higher levels of smartphone addiction were associated with lower compassion satisfaction and higher levels of burnout and compassion fatigue. Smartphone addiction showed a negative association with compassion satisfaction and positive associations with burnout and compassion fatigue. In multivariate analyses, problematic smartphone use remained independently associated with increased burnout and compassion fatigue.This study contributes to the literature on digital behaviors and physician well-being by demonstrating that smartphone addiction is associated with professional quality of life among family medicine residents. Multivariate analyses suggest that problematic smartphone use may play a role in burnout and compassion fatigue beyond sociodemographic characteristics. These findings are consistent with previous research in healthcare professionals and highlight the relevance of digital exposure in the residency context, where workload and constant connectivity are prominent features of training.Smartphone addiction was associated with professional quality of life among family medicine residents, particularly with increased burnout and compassion fatigue. These findings underscore the importance of problematic smartphone use in understanding professional well-being during residency
