title: Surgeons' work engagement: influencing factors and relations to job and life satisfaction.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Work engagement has become a topic of great interest in recent years. However, clinicians' work engagement has rarely been studied and relatively little is known about its predictors and consequences. Therefore the objective of this cross-sectional questionnaire study was to test a model of possible institutional and personal predictors and significant relations to job and life satisfaction.
  
  
  METHODS
  123 clinicians specializing in Surgery Medicine participated in the study. Self-administered questionnaires, including the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, the Brief Resilient Coping Scale and the Questionnaire for Self-efficacy, Optimism and Pessimism, were administered. Bivariate analyses and a stepwise regression analysis were performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The whole sample of surgeons rated work engagement with a high mean of M = 4.38; SD = .91. Job satisfaction and perceived quality of life have been rated with moderate scores. The results show that job resources have a greater impact on surgeons' work engagement than their job demands. Significant correlations between surgeons' work engagement, their job satisfaction and quality of life were found. Moreover, work engagement mediated the relation between institutional factors and surgeons' job satisfaction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our research suggests that strengthening surgeons' work engagement will contribute to a more sustainable workplace, in terms of both individual and hospital performance. Therefore, increasing work engagement among surgeons should be of concern for supervisors and hospital managers. Future research should focus on further predictors that may have an influence on health professionals' work engagement. Another field for future research is to study potential effects of interventions on work engagement.
authors: Institute of Occupational Medicine, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Free University and Humboldt University, Thielallee 69-73, 14195 Berlin, Germany; Charité Center for Internal Medicine and Dermatology, Division of General Internal and Psychosomatic Medicine - Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Mitte, Berlin, Germany; Institute of Occupational Medicine, Social Medicine and Environmental Medicine, Goethe-University, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Electronic address: Stefanie.mache@charite.de.
authors: Stefanie
authors: S
authors: Mache
authors: Institute of Occupational Medicine, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Free University and Humboldt University, Thielallee 69-73, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
authors: Karin
authors: K
authors: Vitzthum
authors: Charité Center for Internal Medicine and Dermatology, Division of General Internal and Psychosomatic Medicine - Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Mitte, Berlin, Germany.
authors: Burghard F
authors: BF
authors: Klapp
authors: Charité Center for Internal Medicine and Dermatology, Division of General Internal and Psychosomatic Medicine - Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Mitte, Berlin, Germany.
authors: Gerhard
authors: G
authors: Danzer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D066231:Surgeons / Q000523:psychology*; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016526:Workload / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Institutional characteristics; Job satisfaction; Personal factors; Quality of life; Work engagement