title: Physician coaching to enhance well-being: a qualitative analysis of a pilot intervention.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Physicians in the United States increasingly confront stress, burnout, and other serious symptoms at an alarming level. As a result, there is growing public interest in the development of interventions that improve physician resiliency.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is to evaluate the perceived impact of Physician Well-being Coaching on physician stress and resiliency, as implemented in a major medical center.
  
  
  METHODS
  Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 physician-participants, and three coaches of a Physician Well-being Coaching pilot focused on three main areas: life context, impacts of coaching, and coaching process.
  
  
  METHODS
  Interviewees were physicians who completed between three and eight individual coaching sessions between October 2012 and May 2013 through the Physician Well-being Coaching pilot program.
  
  
  METHODS
  Qualitative content analysis of the 11 physician interviews and three coach interviews using Atlas.ti to generate patterns and themes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Physician Well-being Coaching helped participants increase resilience via skill and awareness development in the following three main areas: (1) boundary setting and prioritization, (2) self-compassion and self-care, and (3) self-awareness. These insights often led to behavior changes and were perceived by physicians to have indirect but positive impact on patient care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Devaluing self-care while prioritizing the care of others may be a significant, but unnecessary, source of burnout for physicians. This study suggests that coaching can potentially help physicians alter this pattern through skill development and increased self-awareness. It also suggests that by strengthening physician self-care, coaching can help to positively impact patient care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Duke University, Pickens Building, 2100 Erwin Road, Durham, NC 27710. Electronic address: sageleafhealth@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Duke University, Pickens Building, 2100 Erwin Road, Durham, NC 27710.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kingsolver
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Duke University, Durham, NC.
authors.forename: Jullia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rosdahl
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001364:Awareness; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004645:Empathy; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015397:Program Evaluation; D036301:Qualitative Research; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D012648:Self Care; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014481:United States
keywords: Health coaching; physician burnout; resilience; stress management; wellness; work–life balance