Psychological Flexibility and Professional Quality of Life among Medical Practitioners in a Tertiary Care Hospital in South India: An Observational Study

Introduction: Professional quality of life and psychological flexibility are important indicators of occupational wellbeing. Aim: The study aimed to understand the relationship between psychological flexibility and the components of professional quality of life, namely compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout in medical practitioners. Method: This cross-sectional study consisted of 185 medical practitioners, 70 females and 115 males, who were currently working in a tertiary care hospital, with a minimum of one-year experience in the field. The data were collected by convenience sampling and administered the Professional Quality of Life scale and Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II. The data were analyzed by Pearson's correlation and t-Test. Results: There was no significant correlation between psychological inflexibility and compassion satisfaction. The correlation between secondary traumatic stress and burnout were significant and highly correlated with psychological inflexibility. Compassion satisfaction and psychological inflexibility were seen higher in females; burnout was seen higher in males whereas secondary traumatic stress showed no significant gender difference. Conclusion: The study may help in understanding interplay of psychological flexibility, burnout and compassion fatigue and interventions along these lines may be fruitful in improving professional quality of life in medical practitioners.