Keep the fire burning: A survey study on the role of personal resources for work engagement and burnout in medical residents and specialists in the Netherlands

Objectives The high prevalence of burnout among medical residents and specialists raises concerns about the stressful demands in healthcare. This study investigated which job demands and job resources and personal resources are associated with work engagement and burnout and whether the effects of these demands and resources differ for medical residents and specialists. Design In a survey study among residents and specialists, we assessed job demands, job resources, personal resources, work engagement and burnout symptoms using validated questionnaires (January to December 2017). Results were analysed using multivariate generalised linear model, ordinary least squares regression analyses and path analyses. Setting Five academic and general hospitals in the Netherlands. Participants A total number of 124 residents and 69 specialists participated in this study. Participants worked in the fields of pediatrics, internal medicine and neurology. Results The associations of job and personal resources with burnout and work engagement differed for residents and specialists. Psychological capital was associated with burnout only for specialists (b=-0.58, p<0.001), whereas psychological flexibility was associated with burnout only for residents (b=-0.31, p<0.001). Colleague support (b=0.49, p<0.001) and self-compassion (b=-0.33, p=0.004) were associated with work engagement only for specialists. Conclusion This study suggests that particularly personal resources safeguard the work engagement and lessen the risk of burnout of residents and specialists. Both residents and specialists benefit from psychological capital to maintain optimal functioning. In addition, residents benefit from psychological flexibility, while specialists benefit from colleague support. Personal resources seem important protective factors for physicians' work engagement and well-being. When promoting physician well-being, a one-size-fits-all approach might not be effective but, instead, interventions should be tailored to the specific needs of specialists and residents

Coaching psychology research: A journey of development in research

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the developmental journey of coaching research. The paper suggests that coaching research, like other areas, has migrated through a number of phases. It started with case study papers (phase 1) which largely looked at individuals or individual organizations from the perspective of the coach (usually a consultant). The second and third phases (phase 2 and 3) were more qualitative in nature, and included surveys and more sophisticated approaches such as grounded theory. The next phase (phase 4) has been the growth in randomised control trails. These papers have offered stronger evidence about the efficacy of coaching as an intervention. More recently (phase 5) there have been a number of meta-analysis papers published

A practitioner’s perspective on coaching effectiveness

In the past decades, coaching has grown into a two-billion-dollar industry worldwide, and organizations increasingly rely on it as a human-resource development (HRD) tool. Consequently, the question of how coaching effectiveness can be measured is a central topic of discussion in both coaching practice and research. Currently, there is no unified answer to this question because researchers have used diverse indicators of coaching success. Three meta-analytic investigations showed that coaching can have positive effects (Jones, Wood, & Guillemeau, 2016; Sonesh et al., 2015; Theeboom, Beersma, & van Vianen, 2014) and that the different classifications are possible to examine coaching success indicators (CSIs). To date, there is no research that investigated whether these CSIs are actually utilized by coaching practitioners to evaluate the effectiveness of their interventions. As such, this chapter uses a concept-mapping approach to shed light on the CSIs that coaching practitioners use to assess the effectiveness of their own interventions and the relative importance that these practitioners ascribe to these CSIs. Specifically, it intends to explore and describe practitioners’ mental representation of coaching effectiveness

Keep the fire burning: a survey study on the role of personal resources for work engagement and burnout in medical residents and specialists in the Netherlands

Objectives The high prevalence of burnout among medical residents and specialists raises concerns about the stressful demands in healthcare. This study investigated which job demands and job resources and personal resources are associated with work engagement and burnout and whether the effects of these demands and resources differ for medical residents and specialists. Design In a survey study among residents and specialists, we assessed job demands, job resources, personal resources, work engagement and burnout symptoms using validated questionnaires (January to December 2017). Results were analysed using multivariate generalised linear model, ordinary least squares regression analyses and path analyses. Setting Five academic and general hospitals in the Netherlands

Simply effective? The differential effects of solution-focused and problem-focused coaching questions in a self-coaching writing exercise

Coaching is a systematic and goal-oriented one-on-one intervention by a coach aimed to guide clients in their professional and personal development. Previous research on coaching has demonstrated effects on a number of positive outcomes, including well-being and performance, yet little is known about the processes that underlie these outcomes, such as the type of questions coaches use. Here, we focus on three different types of coaching questions, and aim to uncover their immediate and sustained effects for affect, self-efficacy, and goal-directed outcomes, using a between-subjects experiment. One hundred and eighty-three medical residents and PhD students from various medical centers and healthcare organizations in the Netherlands were recruited to participate in a self-coaching writing exercise, where they followed written instructions rather than interacting with a real coach. All participants were randomly allocated to one of three conditions: either one of two solution-focused coaching conditions (i.e., the success or miracle condition) or a problem-focused coaching condition. Self-report questionnaires were used to measure key outcomes of coaching, that is positive and negative affect, self-efficacy, goal orientation, action planning (i.e., quantity and quality) and goal attainment. Two follow-up measurements assessed if the effects of the self-coaching exercise led to problem-solving actions within an initial follow-up period of 14 days and a subsequent follow-up period of 10 days. Findings showed that participants experienced more positive affect, less negative affect, and higher approach goal orientation after the solution-focused coaching exercise compared to the problem-focused coaching exercise. In all conditions, goal attainment increased as a consequence of the self-coaching intervention. We discuss the implications of our findings for the science and practice of contemporary coaching