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Seeking a 'Career' and 'Family': Factors of Satisfaction in Work-Life Balance among Child-Rearing Female Physicians in Japan, Comparison between Female Physicians without Children and Male Physicians

Makiko Arima, Yoko Araki, Sachiko Iseki, Chieko Mitaka, Nobuhide Hirai and Yasunari Miyazaki

Objective: More female physicians are participating at the workplace in Japan; however, due to the difficulty in balancing work and childrearing, there is the major issue of low retention. Therefore, maintaining work–life balance (WLB) is an urgent topic for child-rearing female physicians as they often need to work long hours. This study investigated WLB satisfaction factors among childrearing female physicians in Japan, regarding work systems, job satisfaction and openness toward providing medical career education to new physicians and compared these factors with those related to other physicians.

Methods: A cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire with 34 items was distributed to 2,159 medical school alumni in 2011. The primary outcome measures were ‘satisfaction with WLB’; ‘satisfaction with skill utilization, physician achievement, staff communication, patient communication, current position, current salary’ and ‘openness toward providing career education to young physicians in academic hospitals’.

Results: Statistically significant relationships were identified using chi-square tests. In total, 439 responses were received: 76.1% of females and 75.4% of males were satisfied with their WLB. A logistic regression analysis showed that child-rearing female physicians who were ‘satisfied with staff communication’ were more likely to be satisfied with WLB (OR: 22.65, p < 0.009). Further, those who were ‘satisfied with salary’ were more likely to be satisfied with WLB (OR: 4.365, p < 0.031) and those who ‘agreed to provide career education to young physicians in academic hospitals’ were more likely to be satisfied with WLB (OR: 0.086, p < 0.011). For other physicians, ‘average weekly work hours’ was the common predictor of WLB satisfaction.

Conclusion: Implementing favourable work–life policies for child-rearing female physicians will enhance their participation and retention, leading to a better work environment for other physicians. Changes in work systems and the organisational climate will lead to workplace diversity, better performance and success of health-care organisations.