Vitality in context: understanding physicians’ vitality and gendered effects of contextual factors in the learning and working environment.

Summary

Well-being is crucial for physicians’ professional performance, including the risk of medical errors, work ability, as well as likelihood of attrition, and is thus linked to patient care quality and healthcare systems function. Demanding working conditions and mental health stigma that disproportionately affects female-identifying and gender-diverse physicians hinder self-care and contribute to unhealthy habits and poor well-being. This further limits institutional efforts to recruit and retain a diverse workforce.

This study aims to better understand mental health stigma among resident and staff physicians based on their gender identity and explore factors related to stigma around mental illness among physicians. Participants will engage in journaling reflecting on stigma, help-seeking, coping strategies, and perceived gendered experiences based on prompts provided by the researchers.