Caring for doctors' health in Singapore: a qualitative study

Abstract

Studies conducted globally have highlighted the prevalence of poor health among physicians. However, research on physicians’ perceptions and attitudes toward health and self-care, as well as the complexities within the illness behavior of physicians remain relatively limited. Drawing on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 30 physicians in Singapore, this paper addresses the gaps in prior research through examining physicians’ perspectives toward health and self-care practices, as well as their responses to symptoms and management of illness. This research also presents physicians’ views on the interventions that would be important in improving their general health and wellbeing.

Theoretically, this thesis contributes a social role-based perspective to the study of health and illness behaviors within the field of medical sociology by demonstrating how social roles can influence health and illness behaviors. I propose that individuals’ self-identified primary social role is significant in shaping their decisions to adopt health behaviors, the ways in which they respond to illness, and pathways to seeking care. Furthermore, the constraints and obligations associated with that social role(s) matter in influencing the capacity to engage in self-care efforts and response to illness. This thesis reveals how doctors’ responses to symptom manifestation and pathways to seeking care, treatment or medical advice are not only shaped by structural constraints they experience within work structures in public hospitals, but are also largely associated with their roles as diagnosticians and caregivers. This study is relevant in bringing forth timely insights to supplement current discourses surrounding doctors’ welfare, high rates of burnout and high attrition rates within the public healthcare sector. Feedback elicited from physicians reveal the exigency and necessity for measures to be enhanced and implemented. Insights can be valuable to policymakers in the formulation of effective interventions to address physicians’ self-care concerns and improve the working environment within public healthcare institutions.