Gender Differences in Personal and Organizational Mechanisms to Address Burnout Among Family Physicians

Background: Few studies have examined how interventions designed to address physician burnout might impact female and male physicians differently. Our aim was to test whether there are gender differences in individual approaches to address burnout and/or in organizational support aimed at physician well-being. Methods: An online survey was administered in 2019 to family physicians in California and Illinois who are either board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine, a member of their state Academy of Family Physicians, or both. Descriptive statistics and bivariate independence tests were performed for each personal step and organizational support to determine whether there was any gender difference. Results: A total of 2176 family physicians (58% female and 42% male) responded to the survey. A total of 55% of female and 50% of male physicians were burned out. Female physicians were more likely to reduce work hours/go part time and to use domestic help; males were more likely to spend more time on hobbies. Only 8% reported taking no personal steps to address burnout. Male and female physicians reported similar types of organizational support aimed at physician wellness; yet, 20% reported that their organization did not provide any type of well-being support. Conclusions: We identified gendered differences in physician responses to burnout. Effectively mitigating burnout may require different individual-level approaches and different organizational support mechanisms for female and male physicians.

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