What makes physicians thrive? Assessing the mental health of Hungarian physicians with the Stanford Professional Fulfillment Index

Background and aims : The mental health of physicians - and Hungarian physicians in particular - is a pressing issue and understanding the factors involved is of paramount importance. Professional fulfillment is a concept that looks at the mental health of physicians in a non-traditional way and has been studied little in this context. In Hungary, there was no instrument in the past that investigated the factors involved in the mental health of physicians, so in our research we focused on the exploration of fulfillment. We conducted a validation study with Hungarian physicians using the Hungarian version of the Stanford Professional Fulfillment Index (SPFI-H) . Moreover, we tested the potential influencing factors of professional fulfillment in relation to the physicians’ well-being and burnout. Methods : Physicians (n = 256) responded to an online questionary, containing SPFI-H, Mini Oldenburg Burnout Questionnaire – MOLBI, Work and Meaning Inventory – WAMI, Subjective rated health status – SRH, Satisfaction with Life Scale – SWLS and Multidimensional Work Motivation Scale - MWMS. The psychometric testing of the SPFI-H included internal consistency, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and construct validity with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Maximum likelihood parameter estimator with robust standard error estimation (MLR) was used for the CFA. Statistical analysis was performed using hierarchical (blockwise model) multiple regression analysis. Results : Confirmatory factor analysis of the original factor structure showed that the structural model was a poor fit. After omitting two items with low standardized coefficients, the final, 14 item model’s fit was found to be good, with all coefficients being sufficiently high (ß>0.53) and the fit indices indicated also adequate fit (χ ² =222.38, df=72, χ ² /df=3.09 CFI=.94, IFI=.94, TLI=.92, RMSEA=.09 CI of RMSEA=.07-.10, SRMR=.05). The hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that intrinsic motivation, meaningful work and positive meaning positively predicted professional fulfillment with 59% of the total explained variance. Conclusion : SPFI-H scales have adequate psychometric characteristics and offer a novel avenue for assessing professional fulfillment. This may extend our current knowledge on physicians’ well-being and inspire future investigations beyond focusing solely on burnout.