[Generation and validation of a scale to measure physicians' wellbeing].
BACKGROUND
the recent and ongoing changes in the structure and social organization of medicine have deeply transformed medical practice.


OBJECTIVE
to study the perception of these changes by physicians, the impact of these changes in their subjective wellbeing and their strategies of adjustment.


METHODS
a scale, consisting of 54 items grouped in nine dimensions to measure physicians subjective wellbeing was devised. It was applied to a random sample of 580 physicians residing in Metropolitan Santiago and affiliated to the Colegio Médico de Chile (the Chilean Medical Association).


RESULTS
the internal consistency analysis in the instrument showed a global Cronbach´s alpha of 90 percent.


CONCLUSIONS
these results support our methodological approach based on an initial qualitative identification of relevant topics in our local context, which afterwards were included as items in the scale to measure specific components of subjective wellbeing.
Departamento de Psiquiatría y Salud Mental, Oriente, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de ChileSantiago, Chile. nhorwitz@med.chile.cl
Nina
N
Horwitz
Luz
L
Bascuñán
Irene
I
Schiattino
Julia
J
Acuña
Juan Pablo
JP
Jiménez
D002677:Chile; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000639:trends*; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*