The Moderating Effects of Moral Injury and Discrimination Trauma on Women Physician Trainees' Well-Being.

Abstract

Graduate medical trainees are positioned to experience high rates of negative well-being due to the demanding and hierarchical nature of this time in their careers. Focusing on the well-being of physician trainees is required to ensure a better future of medicine. A novel avenue of examining physician trainee well-being is through understanding the effects of moral injury and discrimination trauma in overall well-being. This secondary data analysis examines the moderating role of discrimination trauma and moral injury on six well-being metrics cross-sectionally at baseline and 4 months postcoaching intervention, respectively. This is a secondary, cross-sectional analysis using survey data collected at two time points. The participants in this study (n = 1017) are women physician trainees in the USA. The predictor measures are as follows: Moral Injury Symptom Scale- Healthcare Providers and Trauma Symptoms of Discrimination Scale. The outcome measures are as follows: Maslach's Burnout Inventory, Young Impostor Scale, Self-Compassion Scale, and Secure Flourishing Index. At baseline, discrimination trauma moderates the relationship among moral injury with impostor syndrome and self-compassion. After the coaching intervention, moral injury moderates the effect of the intervention on impostor syndrome. The results of this secondary analysis emphasize the role moral injury and discrimination play in overall well-being, specifically through the experiences of self-compassion and impostor syndrome. This study calls for early measurement and mitigation efforts of both moral injury and discrimination trauma, which may effect well-being for graduate medical trainees and lessen the impact of our coaching intervention.