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The International Journal of Indian Psychology
ISSN 2348-5396 (e) | ISSN: 2349-3429 (p)
Volume 3, Issue 4, No. 68, DIP: 18.01.212/20160304
ISBN: 978-1-365-39398-3
[Link] | July-September, 2016
Psychological Well-being among Doctors and Nurses:
A Comparative Study
Madhuchandra, M. K. 1*, Srimathi, N. L. 2
ABSTRACT
The present study examines the level of psychological well being among doctors and nurses. A
total of 600 (doctors-300, nurses-300) samples were selected randomly from Bangalore City.
Information was collected from using an instrument developed by Carol, D, Ryff’s Medium
Form of Psychological Well Being Scale (PWBS). Results of the study revealed that doctors and
nurses working in Bangalore City did not show significance differences in overall psychological
wellbeing. However they showed significance differences in the domains of autonomy and
environmental mastery. Whereas nurses score higher on autonomy and environmental mastery
compare to doctors. Gender wise comparisons on over all psychological wellbeing did not show
significance differences. However male and female differ only in the domain of personal growth,
male respondents scored higher on Personal growth has compare to female respondent.
Keywords: Psychological Well Being, Doctors, Nurses,
The main purpose of the present study was to assess the psychological well-being in a sample of
doctors and nurses from various government and private hospitals and health centers in
Bangalore city. Medical professionals such as doctors and nurses play a very important role in
caring the patients and accepting them as they are. There are many aspects like increasing job
responsibilities, multitasking, need to adept self with emerging technologies, stricter consumer
rights along with job insecurities and a competitive workplace make health care a challenging
sphere to work in. Thus it is important to check well being status of health care professionals, as
first and foremost they are directly involved with health care of the people. With this back
ground the current study aims to explore and assess psychological well being among doctors and
nurses. The significance of the study is to analyzes two different types of health professionals
(doctors and nurses), since the majority of previous research has concentrated on one type of
medical professional.
1
Research Scholar, University of Mysore, Mysore, India
2
Professor, University of Mysore, Mysore, India
*Responding Author
© 2016, M Madhuchandra, N Srimathi; licensee IJIP. This is an Open Access Research distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution License ([Link] which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any Medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Psychological Well-being among Doctors and Nurses: A Comparative Study
Levi (1987) defined ‘psychological well-being as a dynamic state characterized by reasonable
amount of harmony between individual’s abilities, needs and expectations, environmental
demands and opportunities’. Psychological well-being has more to do with the management of
the existential challenges of life such as having meaning in one’s life growing and developing as
a person.
According to Diener (1999) Psychological well-being is ‘how people evaluate their lives, these
evaluations are may be in the form of cognitive or affective’. The cognitive part is an
information based appraisal of conscious evaluative judgments about one’s satisfaction with life,
and the affective part is a hedonic evaluation guided by emotions and feelings such as experience
of pleasant/unpleasant moods in reaction to their lives.
The concept of psychological wellbeing explained by Ryff (1989) Well-being is a dynamic
concept that includes subjective, social, and psychological dimensions as well as health-related
behaviors. The concept of psychological or emotional well-being was originally construed as a
challenge in overcoming the hedonistic concept of well-being in psychology and with the
aspiration of making a distinction between the hedonistic state of comfort and eudaimonic
process of growth and development by which happiness, and finally also pleasure, is achieved.
Ryff (1995) Scales of Psychological Well-Being is a theoretically grounded instrument that
specifically focuses on measuring multiple facets of psychological well-being. These facets
include the following: There are six components of psychological well-being. having a positive
attitude towards oneself and one’s past life (self acceptance), having goals and objectives that
give life meaning (purpose in life), being able to manage complex demands of daily life
(environmental mastery), having a sense of continued development and self realization (personal
growth), possessing caring and trusting ties with others (positive relation with others); and being
able to follow one’s own convictions (autonomy) (Khan 2009).
Ronald J. Burke et al., (2012) examined the Psychological Well-Being among nurses in Spain.
The result of the study shows that Nurses with higher levels of work-family interference and
emotional demands reported lower levels of psychological wellbeing in terms of greater anxiety
and depression (r =-.31 and -.26,) respectively. Nurses indicating higher levels of all three
sources of social support (supervisor, co-workers, spouse/partner, family and friends) also
reported higher levels of psychological well-being (r =.09, .08, and .04) respectively.
Gardiner M et al., (2005) examined the role of psychological well-being in retaining rural
general practitioners. The sample consists of 187 general practitioners in South Australia. The
Questionnaire includes questions about their level of support in rural practice, psychological
health and intentions to leave rural practice. The finding revealed that rural general practitioners
who were seriously considering leaving rural practice had higher work-related distress, higher
© The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN 2348-5396 (e)| ISSN: 2349-3429 (p) | 204
Psychological Well-being among Doctors and Nurses: A Comparative Study
distress related specifically to working in a rural general practice and lower quality of work life.
General practitioners who considered leaving rural practice also reported having fewer
colleagues with whom to discuss professional issues.
Babalola E O & Olumuyiwa O (2015) studied Job Satisfaction and Psychological wellbeing
among mental Health Nurses on the Sample of 110 psychiatric nurses. The Minnesota
Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ- 12) were used.
Result revealed that 84.5% of nurses reported positive psychological wellbeing, while 15.5% had
psychological distress. Job satisfaction had a positive significant relationship with psychological
wellbeing. Majority of the respondents in the study reported that they were satisfied with their
work. Many of them also reported positive psychological wellbeing. There was a significant
positive relationship between job satisfaction and psychological wellbeing.
Objectives
The objectives of the present study are as follows: A) To determine the psychological well being
of doctors and nurses in Bangalore city. B) To assess gender variance of psychological well
being among doctors and nurses.
Hypotheses
The following hypotheses were framed for the study: A) doctors and nurses differ in
Psychological wellbeing. B) There will be Gender influence on Psychological wellbeing
METHOD
Sample
Based on random sampling technique, the overall sample for this study covered 600. Out of
them, 300 doctors (male-150, female- 150) and 300 nurses (male-150, female-150) were
included in this study. Sample was drawn from different private and government hospitals of
Bangalore city.
Tools
Socio Demographic Data Sheet: This includes details about age, sex, gender, Length of service,
marital status, and Annual income.
Psychological Well Being Scale (1995)-Medium form: The test of psychological well-being
was developed by Carol Ryff (1995), which consists of 54 questions. Each item has to be rated
on 6-point scale on the continuum of strongly disagree to strongly agree. This test consists of 6
different sub-areas namely Autonomy, Environment Mastery (EM), Personal Growth (PG),
Positive Relation With Others (PRWO), Purpose In Life (PIL) and Self-Acceptance (SA). The
minimum scores of a subject on this scale will be 54 and the maximum possible scores will be
324. In this test high score indicates that the respondent has a mastery of well-being in his or her
© The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN 2348-5396 (e)| ISSN: 2349-3429 (p) | 205
Psychological Well-being among Doctors and Nurses: A Comparative Study
life. Conversely, a low score shows that the respondent struggles to feel comfortable with that
concept.
Procedure
After taking permission from the consent authority, subjects were assessed on Psychological well
being (PWB). Further, data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.
RESULT
On the whole the result found that doctors and nurses did not differ significantly on
psychological wellbeing scores (F=1.83; P=0.17). With respect to gender wise score (F=0.18;
p=0.89) of male and female and the interaction between group and gender score (F=0.23;
p=0.63) was also found to be non significant.
Group, gender and autonomy: Doctors and nurses differed significantly in their autonomy scores
(F=4.48; p=.03), whereas nurses were found to be more autonomous (mean; 35.04) than doctors
(mean; 34.12). Further, gender wise a non significant difference was observed between male and
female respondents and the interaction effect between groups and gender was also found to be
non significant.
Table showing the domain wise Psychological Wellbeing (PWB) scores of doctors and nurses
[follow last page]
Group, gender and environmental mastery: Doctors and nurses differed significantly in their
environmental mastery scores (F=12.11; p=0.001), whereas nurses were found to be more on
environmental mastery (mean; 36.23) than doctors (mean; 34.58). Further, gender wise a non
significant difference was observed between male and female respondents and the interaction
effect between groups and gender was also found to be non significant.
Group, gender and personal growth: Doctors and nurses found to be not differed significantly in
their personal growth scores (F=0.07; p=0.784). Further, gender wise significant differences was
observed between male and female (F=5.11; P=0.24), whereas male (mean; 35.34) were found to
be more personal growth than female (mean; 34.29) respondents and the interaction effect
between groups and gender was found to be non significant.
Group, gender and positive relation with others, purpose in life and self-acceptance: doctors and
nurses did not differed significantly on other domains of psychological wellbeing, such as
positive relation with other (F=0.178, P=0.673), Purpose in life (F=0.430, P=0.512), and self-
acceptance (F=1.038, P=0.309). Further, gender wise no significant difference was observed in
the area of positive relation with other (F=0.96, P=0.757), Purpose in life (F=0.997, P=0.318),
and self-acceptance (F=1.845, P=0.358). Interaction effect between groups and gender was also
© The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN 2348-5396 (e)| ISSN: 2349-3429 (p) | 206
Psychological Well-being among Doctors and Nurses: A Comparative Study
found to be non significant in positive relation with other (F=1.963, P=0.162), Purpose in life
(F=1.285, P=0.257), and self-acceptance (F=0.925, P=0.337).
DISCUSSION
The main objective of the current research is to study psychological wellbeing of doctors and
nurses in Bangalore city. The hypothesis states that: ‘doctors and nurses differ in Psychological
wellbeing’. Statistical method of ANOVA has been applied to measure between-subjects by
SPSS (version 20) to test the hypothesis.
Outcome of the study it was found that overall score of doctors and nurses did not differ
significantly in their psychological wellbeing. However Doctors and nurses differed significantly
in the domain of autonomy and Emotional maturity score. Nurses scored high on autonomy and
environmental mastery compare to doctors. Other domains of psychological wellbeing such as
personal growth, positive relation with others, purpose in life and self-acceptance, there is no
significant differences between doctors and nurses.
The finding was supported by Vicenta E A & Santiago P H (2007) in their study entitled
Psychological wellbeing and psychosocial work environment characteristics among emergency
medical and nursing staff. The result of the study shows that Doctors demonstrated a greater
prevalence of poor vitality, mental health, and emotional exhaustion than did nurses. Greater
demands were associated with all three outcomes for both doctors and nurses. Lower job control
and co-worker social support were predictive of poor psychological well-being only for doctors.
In addition, low supervisor social support was related to poorer mental health for doctors,
whereas low supervisor social support was related to more emotional exhaustion for nurses.
Susmita Halder, & Akash Kumar Mahato (2013) studied on Stress and psychological well being
status among health care professionals. Result of the study shows that stress level was highest
among nurses followed by Paramedical staff and finally doctors. Depression traits among all
health professionals were in the range of 33.3% - 66.6%. Traits in majority of the above sample
also showed anxiety symptoms to the extent of 40% - 60%. A small percentage of nurses had
neurasthenic and traits of hysteria among the entire sample. Majority of the subjects had
evidence of psychological distress however Stress level was present in varying degree among all
health care professionals.
The second objective of the current research is to assess gender variance of the psychological
wellbeing among doctors and nurses. Hypothesis of the study states that: ‘There will be Gender
influence on Psychological wellbeing’.
Findings of the study revealed that male and female doctors and nurses’ do not differ
significantly on overall psychological wellbeing, however domains wise result indicate that male
© The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN 2348-5396 (e)| ISSN: 2349-3429 (p) | 207
Psychological Well-being among Doctors and Nurses: A Comparative Study
and female doctors and nurse differ significantly on Personal Growth. Male nurses and doctors
were found to be more on personal growth as compare to female respondents. In the rest of the
domains like autonomy, environment mastery, positive relation with others, purpose in life and
self-acceptance male and female doctors do not differ significantly.
The finding was supported by Escriba & Burillo (2004) in their study entitled Psychological
well-being among hospital personnel: the role of family demands and psychosocial work
environment. Result revealed that gender role and psychosocial work environment have a
negative influence on the psychological well-being of hospital staff.
Fakir M S and Lisa M (2009) in their study entitled Psychological Well-Being in Professional
Groups. Result of the study shows that woman are as happy as men are. In the context of group
comparison, it was shown that doctors and teachers experience maximum happiness whereas
administrators experience the least. Engineers and executives were placed in the intermediate
positions. The findings were explained in light of profession specific role demands and
expectations.
CONCLUSION
It may be noted from the above studies that doctors and nurses working in Bangalore City do not
show any difference in overall psychological wellbeing. However in the Domains of autonomy
and environmental mastery doctors and nurses differ significantly. Nurses were found to more
autonomous and were found to be high on environmental mastery as compare to doctors.
Between genders comparison reveals that male and female do not differ significantly on over all
PWB. However on the domain of personal growth male were found to score high than female
respondent. The Finding of the study may be utilized for setting of specific designed training
programs for male and female medical professionals.
Acknowledgments
The author appreciates all those who participated in the study and helped to facilitate the
research process.
Conflict of Interests
The author declared no conflict of interests.
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Psychological Well-being among Doctors and Nurses: A Comparative Study
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© The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN 2348-5396 (e)| ISSN: 2349-3429 (p) | 209
Psychological Well-being among Doctors and Nurses: A Comparative Study
Table showing the domain wise Psychological Wellbeing (PWB) scores of doctors and nurses
Group Gender Domains of Psychological wellbeing Total
N Autonomy Environmental Personal Positive Purpose in Self- TOTAL_PWB
mastery growth relation with life acceptance
others
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD
Doctors Male 150 34.52 5.92 34.4 6.31 35.63 4.88 35.62 7.24 34.14 6.93 35.38 6.07 209.69 30.11
Female 150 33.72 5.28 34.76 5.78 34.13 5.81 35.03 7.03 35.3 6.19 35.36 6.24 27.63
208.30
Total 300 34.12 5.61 34.58 6.04 34.88 5.41 35.33 7.13 34.72 6.58 35.37 6.14 28.86
208.99
Nurses Male 150 35.18 5.59 36.27 5.86 35.05 6.38 34.64 6.15 35.11 7.27 35.41 5.43 211.66 28.7
Female 150 34.91 4.55 36.19 5.23 34.46 5.49 35.56 5.81 35.04 6.2 36.29 5.1 212.45 23.84
Total 300 35.04 5.09 36.23 5.54 34.75 5.95 35.1 5.99 35.08 6.75 35.85 5.28 212.05 26.34
Total Male 300 34.85 5.76 35.34 6.15 35.34 5.68 35.13 6.72 34.63 7.11 35.39 5.75 210.68 29.38
Female 300 34.32 4.96 35.47 5.55 34.29 5.64 35.3 6.45 35.17 6.19 35.82 5.71 210.37 25.85
Total 600 34.58 5.37 35.41 5.85 34.82 5.68 35.21 6.58 34.9 6.66 35.61 5.73 210.53 27.65
F ( Group) F=4.48 ;p F= 12.11; F=0.07 ; F=0.17 ; F=0.43; F=1.03 ; F=1.83 ; P=0.17
=0.03 =0.001 P=0.78 P=0.67 P=0.51 P=0.30
F (Gender) F= 1.48;p F=0.08 ; F=5.11 ; F=0.96 ; F=0.99 ; F=0.84 ; F=0.18 ; P=0.89
=0.22 P=0.77 P=0.02 P=0.75 P=0.31 P=0.35
F (interaction) F=0.37 ; F=0.22 ; F=.98 ; F=1.96 ; F=1.28 ; F=0.92 ; F=0.23 ; P=0.63
P=0.54 P=0.63 P=0.32 P=0.16 P=0.25 P=0.33
How to cite this article: M Madhuchandra, N Srimathi (2016), Psychological Well-being among
Doctors and Nurses: A Comparative Study, International Journal of Indian Psychology, Volume
3, Issue 4, No. 68, ISSN:2348-5396 (e), ISSN:2349-3429 (p), DIP:18.01.212/20160304,
ISBN:978-1-365-39398-3
© The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN 2348-5396 (e)| ISSN: 2349-3429 (p) | 210
