JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

With physician burnout and suicidality present at alarming rates, this small-sample pilot study attempts to analyze factors related to moral decision making in work-family conflicts and extrapolate how such factors protect or add to the mental and emotional strain of medical professionals. By identifying protective or aggravating factors of work-family conflicts, we aim to suggest appropriate areas for intervention to benefit these professionals. This study utilizes a scenario-based survey with high- and low-pressure modifiers to quantify respondent decision making, outcome guilt, and decision confidence. Results demonstrate significant moral influences due to understaffed rural environments, family visitation frequency, family event importance, and level of training. Increased respondent guilt and confidence were found to have significant association with high pressure family stressors while decreased guilt and confidence significantly associated with increased professional stressors. Next steps include further verification of findings utilizing a large multi-institution respondent sample, further scrutinizing respondent guilt, and accounting for generational differences of respondents.