Physician Coaching to Enhance Well-being: A Qualitative Analysis of a Pilot Intervention
Abstract
Context Physicians in the United States increasingly confront stress, burnout, and other serious symptoms at an alarming level. As a result, there is growing public interest in the development of interventions that improve physician resiliency.Objective The aim of this study is to evaluate the perceived impact of Physician Well-being Coaching on physician stress and resiliency, as implemented in a major medical center.Study design Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 physician-participants, and three coaches of a Physician Well-being Coaching pilot focused on three main areas: life context, impacts of coaching, and coaching process.Participants Interviewees were physicians who completed between three and eight individual coaching sessions between October 2012 and May 2013 through the Physician Well-being Coaching pilot program.Analysis Qualitative content analysis of the 11 physician interviews and three coach interviews using Atlas.ti to generate patterns and themes.Results Physician Well-being Coaching helped participants increase resilience via skill and awareness development in the following three main areas: (1) boundary setting and prioritization, (2) self-compassion and self-care, and (3) self-awareness. These insights often led to behavior changes and were perceived by physicians to have indirect but positive impact on patient care.Conclusions Devaluing self-care while prioritizing the care of others may be a significant, but unnecessary, source of burnout for physicians. This study suggests that coaching can potentially help physicians alter this pattern through skill development and increased self-awareness. It also suggests that by strengthening physician self-care, coaching can help to positively impact patient care.
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The coaching model is well-being focused.
“| Coaching process related | Coaching model | Well-being focused | [93,101,157] |”
From Coaching in undergraduate and graduate medical education: a scoping review of success factors, barriers, and outcomes (2026) · cites this paper as [101]
Patient outcomes are a positive program outcome.
“| Coaching outcomes | Program | Positive outcome: patient outcomes | [59,77,101] |”
From Coaching in undergraduate and graduate medical education: a scoping review of success factors, barriers, and outcomes (2026) · cites this paper as [101]
Wellness focused is a coaching success factor.
“| Coaching success factors | Coaching | Wellness focused | [18,36,101] |”
From Coaching in undergraduate and graduate medical education: a scoping review of success factors, barriers, and outcomes (2026) · cites this paper as [101]
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- Authors
- Schneider, S., Kingsolver, K., & Rosdahl, J.
- Affiliations
- Duke University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Schneider, Suzanne
- ORCID
- Rosdahl, Jullia
- Venue
- EXPLORE
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-11
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 372-379
- ISSN
- 1550-8307 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2006699298
- Cited by
- 92
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 9.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- EXPLORE (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- The Arnold P. Gold Foundation (186606, 5K12EY016333)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Coaching Methods and Impact
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
- Keywords
- physician well-being, burnout, resilience, physician stress, self-care, self-compassion, boundary setting, priority setting, self-awareness, coaching interventions, patient care
- MeSH terms
- Attitude of Health Personnel, Awareness, Burnout, Professional, Empathy, Health, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Personal Satisfaction, Physicians, Pilot Projects, Self Care, Stress, Psychological, United States, Program Evaluation, Qualitative Research, Resilience, Psychological
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