Self-Perceived Health, Life Satisfaction and Related Factors among Healthcare Professionals and the General Population: Analysis of an Online Survey, with Propensity Score Adjustment

Abstract

Healthcare professionals (HCPs) often suffer high levels of depression, stress, anxiety and burnout. Our main study aimswereto estimate the prevalences of poor self-perceived health, life dissatisfaction, chronic disease and unhealthy habits among HCPs and to explore the use of machine learning classification algorithms to remove selection bias. A sample of Spanish HCPs was asked to complete a web survey. Risk factors were identified by multivariate ordinal regression models. To counteract the absence of probabilistic sampling and representation, the sample was weighted by propensity score adjustment algorithms. The logistic regression algorithm was considered the most appropriate for dealing with misestimations. Male HCPs had significantly worse lifestyle habits than their female counterparts, together with a higher prevalence of chronic disease and of health problems. Members of the general population reported significantly poorer health and less satisfaction with life than the HCPs. Among HCPs, the prior existence of health problems was most strongly associated with worsening self-perceived health and decreased life satisfaction, while obesity had an important negative impact on female practitioners’ self-perception of health. Finally, the HCPs who worked as nurses had poorer self-perceptions of health than other HCPs, and the men who worked in primary care had less satisfaction with their lives than those who worked in other levels of healthcare.