Study of Psychosocial and Contextual Determinants of General Practitioners' Management of Burnout (BOPEC-MG)

Burnout is a major public and occupational health issue. Despite accumulated knowledge to date on the determinants of burnout and its treatment, shortcomings when providing support against this complex phenomenon have been found. Although many professionals are involved in the management of burnout, general practitioners (GPs), as primary care providers, are on the front line, and face a range of difficulties that are reflected in the wide variability of medical support brought to the patients. As a result, the diversity of these practices can affect the recovery process of burnout sufferers and their ability to return to work. Deviations from recommended practices can lead to shortcomings in the treatment of burnout. Using an exploratory et descriptive study design, the main objective of BOPEC-MG is to describe the psychosocial mechanisms involved in the management of burnout in general practice that could explain the variation in medical practices.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Burnout

Detailed Description

The principal aim of this interdisciplinary project is to conduct an exploratory study of GPs' attitudes, beliefs and social representations with regard to burnout management, in order to better understand how their perceptions of this syndrome can influence their practices.

A mixed method combining qualitative and quantitative data collection will be used with samples from the French GPs population.

In phase 1 (qualitative study), semi-structured interviews will be conducted to explore:

1. The contextual aspects of professional practice (e.g. barriers to work);
2. The attitudes, beliefs and social representations about burnout;
3. Concrete practices for managing burnout (e.g. prescribing sick leave).

In addition to semi-structured interviews, qualitative data collection will include the examination of fictional clinical cases to describe medical practices. The format of the four fictional will be video, with actors playing the roles of patients with severe burnout in general practice. The independent variables manipuled will be age and gender.

In phase 2 (quantitative study), a questionnaire will be sent to french general practitioners. it will include scales developed using the results of phase 1 and scales validated by the scientific literature.

As for quantitative data collection, in addition to scales dedicated to attitudes, beliefs and practices, a questionnaire will include a free association task to describe social representations of burnout.

the questionnaire will measure:

1. attitudes
2. beliefs
3. social representations
4. screening for burnout and depression
5. contextual and environmental psychosocial determinants
6. care practices
7. socio-demographic variables

A randomized controlled trial aimed at harmonizing practices in general practice could be carried out on the basis of the results. Furthermore, the applications of the present study will be twofold: designing training courses in burnout management for the medical population, and contributing to communication campaigns to encourage GPs to follow the recommendations.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Estimated): 410

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Florian OLLIEROU; Phone Number: +33 0240083635; Email: florian.ollierou@chu-nantes.fr

Study Locations

• France
  • Nantes, France, 44093
    • CHU Nantes

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Active general practitioners in the northwestern of France (around 23000 GPs)

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• practicing GPs
• GPs in northwestern region of France
• GPs with regular use of sick leave prescriptions

Exclusion Criteria:

• GPs with particular mode of exercise (e.g. 100% homeopathy)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

General practitioners; Only practising French GPs will be included in the study. In qualitative phase, each GP will be interviewed during a research interview lasting one to one-and-a-half hours. In quantitative phase, GPs will receive an e-mail with a link to complete the questionnaire. The survey will take 15 minutes to complete. For the inclusion of participants in the qualitative phase, the sampling method chosen is that of maximum variation. The criteria used are: gender, age, seniority, type of agreement, type of territory, type of work organization. The quantitative phase involves sending a questionnaire by email to a professional mailing list of general practitioners.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Attitudes and beliefs about burnout will be assessed with scales developed specifically on the basis of the qualitative results.	Attitude and belief scales will include a series of items and statements relating to burnout and its management. The measurement method chosen is the Lickert scale, classically used for attitude assessment. The items and statements will be based on the content of the interviews (qualitative phase). The items will be subjected to a 3-stage judges' validation test: written judgment on each item,; perfect agreement by the judges as to the unfavorable or favorable value of an item,; 3 out of 4 judges agree that the statement is an attitude or belief. The items selected by this method will constitute the first operational version of the scale.	1 day. Each participant is assessed one time

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Social representations about burnout will will be assessed with a free association test (Vergès, Scanon & Junique, 2005).	The free association task is the method traditionally used to measure social representations. It consists in proposing an inductive word and asking the participant to evoke the 5 words related to this inductive term. This procedure has the advantage of being quick and encouraging spontaneity, which favors less controlled responses than in a qualitative survey. (Guimelli & Abric, 2007). In the context of this research, the inducer words will be: "burnout", "sick leave", "general practitioner".	1 day. Each participant is assessed one time

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Nantes University Hospital
• Collaborators: National Research Agency, France; Angers University Hospital; IGEIA, audit intervention formation recherche en santé, F-44000 Nantes, France; Tours university

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): March 1, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): November 1, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 30, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 5, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 5, 2025
• Last Verified: January 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: primary care; Burnout; general practitioners
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Stress, Psychological; Burnout, Psychological
• Other Study ID Numbers: RC24_0566

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No