The dual journey: pregnancy, parenthood, and gastroenterology training

Gastroenterology training usually coincides with childbearing years and pregnancy and parenthood during training can impact trainees' work-life-family balance.

The aim was to assess the challenges that gastroenterology trainees in Europe encounter during pregnancy and parenthood.

A questionnaire was distributed electronically, targeting doctors who were pregnant or had a pregnant partner during their gastroenterology training in the last 10 years.

The study included 82 women and 22 nonpregnant partners. Fear of being perceived negatively was prevalent (n = 59, 72.0%) as well as concern that the pregnancy would negatively impact on training (n = 54, 65.9%). Participants reported several hazards that were not addressed during pregnancy, namely exposure to non-scavenged anesthetic gases (34.1%) and exposure to blood-borne illnesses (28.0%). Formal training programs' maternity leave policies were reported by only 34.1% (n = 28) of women and 45.5% (n = 10) of men. Satisfaction with the duration of parental leave was 85.1% (n = 63) for women and 50% (n = 11) for men. Women reported greater difficulty coping with early parenthood during gastroenterology training than men (women: n = 14, 18.4% vs. men: n = 10, 45.5%; P = 0.014) while worrying that having children would impair their career progress (women: n = 40, 52.6% vs. men: n = 8, 36.4%; P = 0.015).

This European study has demonstrated perceptions of negative stigma related to childbearing, concerns of unaddressed health hazards, dissatisfaction with parental leave policies and a desire for more discussion on a healthy work-family-life balance.