Engagement in Work and Well-Being in a Clinic of Severe Somatic Diseases: the Role of Personal Features in Clinicians and Laboratory Employees

Abstract

The contemporary stage of the organizational psychology development is characterized by the interest in differentiating different states at the workplace and in searching for the personal and organizational resources that contribute to a greater engagement in work and prevent the risk of the emotional burnout, the dependence upon work, the disbalance between work and life, etc. The present study aims at detecting personal predictors of ill-health in doctors at the workplace who personally work with patients with severe somatic diseases, and laboratory staff doctors who work with the same patients without any constant personal contact. 180 doctors working with patients with severe somatic diseases (94 clinicians and 86 laboratory employees) filled out the life satisfaction scale, the Utrecht work engagement scale, the emotional exhaustion subscale of the burnout scale, the Dutch scales of job boredom and work addiction, the big five personality test (the second version) and the Millon clinical multiaxial inventory (the third version). According to the results, the differences between the clinicians in the direct contact with patients and the laboratory employees are about a higher level of workaholism in the former, especially in fresh clinicians. That can be explained by both personal and organizational potentials that contribute to coping with stress in this sample. The personal features of the clinicians correspond to their professional choice and development including the propensity for a positive self-presentation, dominance, and the importance of attention and appreciation. The pedantry and thoroughness characteristic of the laboratory employees can contribute to their professional success, while the avoidant personal pattern and self-defense pattern are consistent with their preference for a laboratory work. The data are in favour of the functional opposite of workaholism and boredom, the former with a higher level of empathy and pedantry, and the latter — with that of a lower level. In the both groups, a depressive pattern of personality is associated with a greater boredom at the workplace, the emotional exhaustion and the general dissatisfaction with life; moreover, the risk of the emotional exhaustion is higher in case of unstable emotions and a low dynamism. Thus, a high level of workaholism in the group of the clinicians indicates the importance of the prevention of the dependence on work in the employees who directly contact patients with severe somatic diseases, especially in fresh clinicians with a high level of dominance, empathy and pedantry. In other words, it is important to those who are usually successful at work and do not seek any psychological help) as well as those who are prone to an avoidant or dependent pattern of personality which also leads to the work-life disbalance.