Only private life settings positively affect quality of life of French women general practitioners

In France, as women now represent the majority of the medical population, there is a discrepancy in the expected life mode for general practitioners and current society standards in a profession with excess of burnout and suicides. To date, there is only a few data available on the evaluation of quality of life of women general practitioner in France.

To evaluate quality of life among this population, and to identify associated factors.

Cross-sectional study.

Participants were women general practitioners practicing in France. Our questionnaire was based on the World Health Organization - quality of life-BREF (26-item). The questionnaire was distributed through various professional networks. This study was approved by our Institutional Review Board. Both simple and multivariable linear models were developed with sensitivity analysis.

Upon 984 respondent women (mean age 36.2 ± 6.3), 704 (71.5%) were in private practice, 198 (20.1%) were employed and 82 (8.4%) had a mixed practice. They were mostly in couple (90.4%) with at least one child (73.6%). The number of working days and working hours depended on the practice type (p < 0.01). The average World Health Organization - quality of life was 63.0 ± 12.5, 66.2 ± 15.4 for domain 1 (physical), 62.6 ± 15.2 for domain 2 (psychological), 57.7 ± 19.6 for domain 3 (social) and 65.4 ± 13.4 for domain 4 (environment). No significant differences were observed in the global score or across the four domains according to the type of practice. Variables associated with the World Health Organization - quality of life were age (p < 0.01), daily working hours (p = 0.16), numbers of working days per month (p < 0.01), tobacco use (p = 0.11), presence of a secretary (p = 0.14), frequency of socializing with friends (p < 0.01), leisure time availability (p < 0.01), children (p = 0.04), relationship status (p < 0.01), number of weeks of vacations per year (p = 0.15), area of practice (p = 0.15) and place of residence (p = 0.06). After the multivariable model analysis, being in a couple (p = 0.02), having children (p = 0.03), leisure time availability (p < 0.001) and frequent socialization with friends (p < 0.001) were the remaining variables positively associated with the World Health Organization - quality of life. Advance in age (p = 0.002) and tobacco use (p = 0.04) were negatively associated to the World Health Organization - quality of life scores.

The weight of private life settings appears more important in quality of life assessment in women general practitioners rather than professional settings.