Healthy and Work-Engaged Medical Doctors

Burnout and other stress-related disorders are a widespread challenge for medical doctors, threatening the health of doctors as well as indirectly the health of their patients. Today, research on this topic has been mainly cross-sectional, while a longitudinal approach would provide us with new insights into how burnout develops over time. Our study has a longitudinal set-up, covering the full educational career path of medical doctors from the start until their graduation; and is large-scale, including a wide variety of medical specializations (i.e. general practitioners, emergency medicine, etc.). We commit to collect psychosocial data from the participants through a survey (i.e. job-related, personal and context variables) and we will develop interventions with the participants following a ‘human-centered design thinking’ approach. Through an impact study, we measure the short- and long-term effects of these co-created interventions.  As a result, the study will provide further insights into the causes of burnout, as well as into the development of preventive measures.