Differences in Well‐being between GPs, Medical Specialists, and Private Physicians: The Role of Psychosocial Factors

OBJECTIVE: To examine the well-being differences among physicians working in different health care sectors and to test whether psychosocial stressors account for these differences. The well-being indicators used were psychological distress, self-rated health, and work ability. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: A total of 2,841 randomly selected Finnish physicians (response rate 57 percent) returned the postal questionnaire, of which 2,047 (1,241 women) fulfilled all the participant criteria. STUDY DESIGN: This is a cross-sectional questionnaire study. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: General practitioners and medical specialists experienced lower well-being than private physicians and this difference was partly explained by differences in psychosocial stressors. CONCLUSIONS: General practitioners and medical specialists report more problems in well-being than private physicians. It is of particular importance to be aware of the sector-specific difficulties in work environments.