Differences in psychological and affective well-being between physicians and resident physicians: Does high and low self-regulation capacity matter?

Abstract

Background Physician well-being has rapidly become an important area of interest given that reduced well-being can have a negative effect on patient outcomes. The majority of studies in this area have focused on impairment, and research on skills and processes that allow physicians and resident physicians to achieve and maintain adequate levels of well-being has been limited. As such, the purpose of the present study was to adopt a positive psychology approach to investigate well-being as more than the presence or absence of dysfunction. It aimed to examine the link between self-regulation capacity, an important self-management skill, and psychological and affective well-being among physicians and resident physicians. Methods A total of 132 Canadian physicians and resident physicians completed online questionnaires assessing their levels of psychological and affective well-being and self-regulation capacity in order to determine if there were significant differences in well-being between physicians and resident physicians with high and low self-regulation capacity. Results Physicians and resident physicians had moderate and high levels of self-regulation capacity, respectively. While both groups were generally high in psychological well-being, they had average levels of positive and negative affect. Between-subject MANOVAs confirmed the hypothesis that high self-regulating physicians and resident physicians have higher levels of psychological well-being and positive affect compared to those with lower levels. However, those higher in 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. Conclusions Results do not support some of the literature suggesting that physicians are highly distressed and cannot manage the demands of their profession. The positive significant association between the physicians and resident physicians' self-regulation capacity and well-being implies that nurturing self-regulation skills within this population could potentially be one way to help them adapt to meet the evolving demands of the medical profession.