Moderated Mediation Analysis Between Burnout and Suicidal Ideation Among Physicians in Türkiye: The Role of Meaning of Life and Satisfaction with Life

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a belief that there has been an increase in the rate of physician suicides in Türkiye due to the agenda of physician suicides in traditional and social media. While the profession of physician is considered one of the risky professions in terms of suicide ideation, some researchers state that there is no such effect among physicians, those who say that the profession is a risk factor for suicide usually explain that burnout is the cause. However, it is insufficient to explain physician suicides as a cause of burnout alone. In this study, a moderated mediation model was examined to explain how the indirect effect of burnout on physicians' suicidal ideation, through presence of meaning of life (PML), is managed by life with satisfaction (SWL). The sample consisted of 214 physicians working in Türkiye. Data were collected from the participants using Demographic Data, the Burnout Scale-Short Form, Life Satisfaction Scale, Meaning of Life Scale and Suicide Probability Scale. The analysis was tested through PROCESS Macro programme. In order to verify the significance of indirect effects, 5000 bootsrap random samples were used. The findings indicate that meaning of life acts as a mediator between burnout and suicidal ideation and that this mediation is influenced by life satisfaction in conclusion, this study examined the effect of burnout on suicide and the results suggest that the meaning of life and life satisfaction may play a protective role in relation to suicidal ideation.