The WellNext Scan: Validity evidence of a new team-based tool to map and support physicians' well-being in the clinical working context

Abstract

Occupational well-being is inherent to physicians’ professional performance and is indispensable for a cost-effective, robust healthcare system and excellent patient outcomes. Increasing numbers of physicians with symptoms of burnout, depression, and other health issues are demonstrating the need to foster and maintain physicians’ well-being. Assessing physicians’ well-being, occupational demands, and resources can help create more supportive and health-promoting working environments. The WellNext Scan (WNS) is a 46-item questionnaire developed to assess (i) physicians’ well-being and (ii) relevant factors related to physicians’ clinical working environment. We collected data to investigate the validity and reliability of the WNS using a non-randomized, multicenter, cross-sectional survey of 467 physicians (staff, residents, doctors not in training, and fellows) from 17 departments in academic and non-academic teaching medical centers in the Netherlands. Exploratory factor analysis detected three composite scales of well-being (energy and work enjoyment, meaning, and patient-related disengagement) and five explanatory factors (supportive team culture, efficiency of practice, job control and team-based well-being practices, resilience, and self-kindness). Pearson’s correlations, item-total and inter-scale correlations, and Cronbach’s alphas demonstrated good construct validity and internal consistency reliability of the scales (α: 0.67–0.90; item-total correlations: 0.33–0.84; inter-scale correlations: 0.19–0.62). Overall, the WNS appears to yield reliable and valid data and is now available as a supportive tool for meaningful team-based conversations aimed at improving physician well-being.