Comparison of Psychological Well-Being of Surgical and Non-Surgical Specialty Physicians Working in a Hospital using the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28)

Abstract

Purpose: Psychological well-being of a physician affects the physician’s mental and physical health, even the patient-physician relationship. This article aims to evaluate and compare the psychological well-being of surgeons and internists in a hospital and to investigate the relationship with relevant variables. Method: Full-time physicians working in a private hospital in Istanbul between 15-30 April 2019 participated in this study. With General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28), the frequency of Probable Psychiatric Cases (PPCs) was determined. The GHQ-28 results were compared with the physician’s specialty, demographic information, and answers to the job satisfaction questions that we prepared. Moreover, the relationship between these answers and the physician’s specialty was evaluated. Results: 84 (37.3%) of 225 physicians (Confidence Level= 95%, Margin of Error= 8%) participated in the study. 19 (22.6%) physicians were found a PPC with a GHQ-28 score of ≥5. Of these 19 people, 11 were surgeons and 8 were internists. The frequency of PPCs was found as 25.6% in surgeons and 19.5% in internists (p>0.05). While 90.8% of non-PPCs were satisfied with their working environment, this rate was 68.4% in PPCs (p=0.038). There was no significant difference in the answers to job satisfaction questions between the surgeons and internists (p>0.05). Conclusion: There was no relationship between the physician’s specialty and being a PPC. A relationship was found between not being a PPC and being satisfied with the physician’s working environment and it should be considered in the evaluation of the mental health of the physicians.