An Organizational-Level Workplace Intervention to Improve Medical Doctors’ Sustainable Employability: Study Protocol for a Participatory Action Research Study

Compromised Sustainable Employability (SE) of medical doctors is a concern for the viability of healthcare and, thus, for society as a whole. This study (preregistration: ISRCTN15232070) will assess the effect of a two-year organizational-level workplace intervention using a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach on the primary outcome SE (i.e., burnout complaints, work engagement, and job satisfaction) and secondary outcomes (i.e., turnover intention, occupational self-efficacy, and perceived impact on health/well-being) in medical doctors. It will also examine whether changes in Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC), job characteristics (i.e., job demands and resources), and perceived impact on the work situation mediate these effects, and which process factors (i.e., degree of actual implementation of changes, information provision, management support, medical doctors’ involvement, and mental models) are important to the intervention’s success. A pre-post design will be used, including 24 groups of medical doctors (approximately N = 650). Data will be collected at four measurement points (a pre-test, two intermediate evaluations, and a post-test) and analyzed using linear mixed-effect models. The results will provide insights into the effectiveness of the intervention in promoting SE and will inform future organizational-level workplace interventions about the mediators and factors in the implementation process that contribute to its effects.