Changes of medical staffs' subjective well-being in China (2004-2020): A cross-temporal meta-analysis

Subjective well-being is a crucial index measuring the mental health of medical staffs, and it is necessary to examine the changes in subjective well-being (SWB) level of Chinese medical staffs with time. A cross-temporal meta-analysis was performed using papers that measured the SWB level of Chinese medical staffs between 2004 and 2020. Moreover, a time-lag analysis was conducted to define whether the macro-social indicators can explain the changes in SWB. A total of 47 papers were included in the final sample. The results revealed that score of SWB was significantly negatively correlated with the year. Score of SWB was significantly associated with six social indicators of economic condition (the residents' consumption level, housing prices, and old-age dependency ratio), social connectedness (the divorce rate and the urbanization level), and overall threat (the crime rate), which indicated that social change may account for the decline of Chinese medical staffs' SWB level. Our study revealed a decreasing trend of Chinese medical staffs' SWB level over time, which was associated with macro-social changes in diverse areas. In addition, combined with the corresponding macro-social indicators, a three-dimensional theoretical framework is proposed to explain the SWB for medical staffs as a group.