Taking control: Is job crafting related to the intention to leave surgical training?

Abstract

Objective The intention to leave surgical training, hereinafter referred as proxy of “attrition,” is associated with poor well-being in the workplace. Attrition is suggested to diminish when residents possess job-crafting skills, that is, the ability to redefine their job in meaningful ways and maximize well-being at work by increasing structural and social resources and challenges and decreasing hindering demands. However, the evidence supporting this relationship is scant. This study sought to: 1) investigate to what extent residents possess job-crafting skills and compare residents’ levels of job-crafting skills across years of residency training; 2) investigate the relationship between job crafting, well-being as measured by burnout and work-engagement rates, and the intention to leave; and 3) compare the levels of job-crafting skills and well-being between residents with and without serious intentions to leave. Methods This cross sectional study was conducted in fifteen residency programs in Colombia. Surgical residents completed different questionnaires including the Dutch Job Crafting Scale (DJCS), MBI-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-17) and an adapted version of the Nurse Turnover Intention Scale (NTIS). The objectives were addressed by independent analyses of variance (ANOVA), structural equation modeling techniques (SEM) and independent t-tests, respectively. Results A total of 202 residents participated. Residents generally scored high on their job-crafting skills to increase structural and social resources as well as challenging demands, but were less positive about their skills to reduce hindering demands. No differences across years of training were found. Job crafting correlated positively with work-engagement, which was inversely related to the intention to leave. Conversely, job crafting correlated negatively with burnout, which bore a positive relationship to the intention to leave. Residents with serious intentions to leave exhibited lower levels of most job-crafting skills and work-engagement, compared to those without such intentions. Conclusions This study adds evidence that attrition is a process mediated by residents’ well being at work, which can be molded by their job-crafting endeavors. Future research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions aimed at cultivating resident’s job-crafting abilities in order to reduce attrition. © 2018 Dominguez et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Objetivo La intención de abandonar la formación quirúrgica, en lo sucesivo denominada indicador de “deserción”, se asocia con un pobre bienestar en el lugar de trabajo. Se sugiere que el desgaste disminuye cuando los residentes poseen habilidades para elaborar trabajos, es decir, la capacidad de redefinir su trabajo de manera significativa y maximizar el bienestar en el trabajo aumentando los recursos y desafíos estructurales y sociales y disminuyendo las demandas obstaculizadoras. Sin embargo, la evidencia que respalda esta relación es escasa. Este estudio buscó: 1) investigar hasta qué punto los residentes poseen habilidades para la elaboración de empleos y comparar los niveles de habilidades para la elaboración de empleos de los residentes a lo largo de los años de capacitación de residencia; 2) investigar la relación entre la elaboración del trabajo, el bienestar medido por las tasas de agotamiento y compromiso laboral, y la intención de irse; y 3) comparar los niveles de habilidades para la elaboración de empleos y de bienestar entre residentes con y sin intenciones serias de irse. Métodos Este estudio transversal se realizó en quince programas de residencia en Colombia. Los residentes de cirugía completaron diferentes cuestionarios, incluida la Escala Holandesa de Elaboración de Empleo (DJCS), la Encuesta de Servicios Humanos MBI (MBI-HSS), la Escala de Compromiso Laboral de Utrecht (UWES-17) y una versión adaptada de la Escala de Intención de Rotación de Enfermeras (NTIS).