Tenderness and Steadiness: Relating Job and Interpersonal Demands and Resources With Burnout and Physical Symptoms of Stress in Canadian Physicians

This study examined the extent to which job and interpersonal demands and resources are associated with burnout and physical symptoms of stress among Canadian physicians. Using the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, we predicted that demands would be more strongly related to emotional exhaustion and physical symptoms, whereas resources would be more strongly related to personal accomplishment and decreased depersonalization. The findings reveal that communication skills and emotional labor contributed to the explained variances beyond workload and work-life conflict (as job demands), as well as autonomy, predictability, and understanding (as job resources). The predictors were differentially associated with the outcome variables in a manner that is consistent with the JD-R model. Implications for physician well-being and improved patient outcomes are discussed.