The look and feel of resilience: A qualitative study of physicians’ perspectives

Abstract

Some physicians can effectively cope and thrive in the face of potentially stressful job conditions, while others experience serious, negative consequences. This ability to be resilient may improve physician wellness and benefit health care organizations, yet little is known about what resilience means to physicians. This paper explores how physicians understand resilience both as they observe it in their colleagues and as they experience it themselves. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 physicians practicing in Alberta, Canada. Two questions explored physicians' experiences of resilience or non-resilience, while two other questions considered what they observed in physician colleagues. Interview transcripts were independently coded by two authors and discussed to ensure agreement on the key themes. There were several similarities in how physicians described resilience or non-resilience in themselves and their colleagues related to control, positivity or negativity, boundaries and balance, coping, and support. There were also important differences in how physicians described their own experiences and their observations of colleagues. Participants' portrayals of themselves suggested being immune to stress and responsible for their success or failure in being resilient. Their depictions of colleagues, however, focused on professionalism, work performance, commitment to values, and experience or wisdom. There appears to be a difference in how physicians understand resilience in themselves compared to what they observe in their colleagues. Specifically, physicians may hold unrealistic and unachievable expectations for their own resilience. Initiatives aimed at improving physician resilience and wellness may be best served by raising awareness about more realistic expectations and self-appraisals.

Exploring resilience in family physicians working in primary health care in the Cape Metropole

“…Most FPs admitted to have experienced or come close to burnout at some point in their careers. These findings correspond with those of Polachek et al 42 who found that a difference exists between how physicians perceive resilience in themselves and what they observe in their colleagues. Specifically, FPs may hold unrealistic and unachievable expectations for their own resilience.…”

“…Specifically, FPs may hold unrealistic and unachievable expectations for their own resilience. 42 These unrealistic expectations are perpetuated within the professional culture of medicine which praises perfection, and unduly judges those who display vulnerability. 43 This serves to further highlight the need for cultivating resilience among FPs.…”

Pulling our lens backwards to move forward: an integrated approach to physician distress

“…Over time, this identity has shifted more towards stoicism (Brown 2019). In this climate, the onus often lands on individuals to negotiate stressful experiences in isolation (Polachek et al 2016). Compartmentalisation and resilience—being able to set aside or mask emotions—are spoken of as essential skills (Arnold-Forster 2020b), although there is no formal training in this area, nor do we fully understand if and how an individual can or should learn to compartmentalise.…”

Building Resilience in Early-Career Social Workers: Evaluating a Multi-Modal Intervention

“…Supporting its inclusion as a key professional competency, there is a growing recognition that resilience is an essential quality for social workers, as it has strong potential to help them manage the complexities of the job more effectively, enhance their decision-making capacities, adapt positively to the challenges of a constantly changing work environment, as well as protect their health and wellbeing (Collins, 2007;Wilks and Spivey, 2010;Beddoe et al 2011;Grant & Kinman, 2014;Kapoulitsas and Corcoran, 2014). There is little agreement on how to conceptualise resilience, but the characteristics and skills that help professionals cope, adapt and develop will, to a large extent, be dependent on the requirements of the job role (Rajan-Rankin, 2013;Authors, 2014;Polachek et al 2016). In order to enhance resilience in social work contexts, it is therefore crucial to gain an understanding of how this quality is perceived by workers, the personal and organisational resources that underpin it, and the strategies that have the potential to enhance it.…”

“…Resilience has been defined in many ways, but the notion of positive adaptation to adversity, as well as the importance of control, coping and support, is a recurring theme (Fletcher and Sarkar, 2015;Polachek et al 2016). A study that explored the personal representations of resilience of 300 English social workers conducted by Grant and Kinman (2013) found considerable variation in how the concept was defined, but it was typically described as a dynamic interplay between personal characteristics and the effective utilisation of support from various sources.…”