A Penny Learned: A Pilot Study on Financial Confidence and Wellness in Urban Community Hospital Psychiatrists

This pilot study examines the perceived value of financial education and whether a brief didactic intervention improves financial confidence and sense of well-being for attending and resident psychiatrists.

An anonymous survey was administered to attending and resident psychiatrists before and after a brief seminar on common financial topics. Aggregate data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Unpaired t-tests were used to compare the pre- and post-seminar data due to anonymity of responses and high attrition rate.

Of the 36 participants (14 men and 22 women) who completed the pre-seminar survey, 7 (19%) had student loans, 30 (83%) had no prior financial education, 33 (92%) considered financial literacy valuable, and 28 (78%) believed that finances were related to wellness. Financial confidence was normally distributed and averaged 54% of the possible maximum. Men trended toward higher financial confidence (p = 0.06). Financial confidence was not associated with age, race, level of training, or debt. Burnout was generally low in this cohort. No significant differences in the perceived value of financial literacy, relationship between finances and wellness, or financial confidence before and after the financial seminar were identified (p = 0.37), though the post-seminar survey had only 14 (39%) respondents.

Although the power of this study was insufficient to demonstrate an association between formal didactics and improvement in financial confidence and burnout, psychiatrists perceive significant value in such education. Findings additionally suggest possible gender differences in financial confidence, reflecting larger systemic inequities in physician financial wellness.