The Well-Being and Self-Regulation Capacity of Physicians

Abstract

Physician well-being has become an important area of interest given that reduced well-being can have a negative effect on patient outcomes. However, research has predominantly focused on impairment thus studies addressing physicians' positive functioning are limited. The purpose of this two-phase, mixed methods study was to investigate the well-being and self-regulation capacity of physicians using a positive psychology lens. In Phase 1, 132 physicians (n = 40 physicians; n = 92 resident physicians) completed online questionnaires to assess their levels of psychological and affective well-being and self-regulation capacity. Selected based on Phase 1 data, 12 physicians then took part in an in-depth individual interview in Phase 2 to discuss their experiences of psychological well-being and self-regulation. Results of Phase 1 showed that physicians and resident physicians had moderate and high levels of self-regulation capacity, respectively. While both groups reported high levels of psychological well-being, they had average levels of positive and negative affect. MANOVAs confirmed the hypothesis that high self-regulating physicians and resident physicians would have higher levels of psychological well-being and positive affect compared to those with lower levels. However, those with higher self-regulation capacity did not have lower negative affect, nor did physicians have significantly higher levels of psychological and affective well-being than resident physicians. Regression analyses confirmed the hypothesis that a significant amount of variance in levels of psychological well-being would be explained by self-regulation capacity. There was a particularly strong relationship between self-regulation capacity and the dimensions of purpose in life and environmental mastery, which suggests that physicians who effectively self-manage may be better able to preserve a sense of purpose and an adequate work-life balance in their daily life. A qualitative content analysis of the Phase 2 qualitative data revealed that physicians had both high and low functioning experiences of psychological well-being across the dimensions of