Assessment of Family Function of Academic Physicians

Background: A balance between Work and family is required to maintain a stable professional and personal life. It is necessary for well-being, job satisfaction, and productivity; Academic physicians' family function usually affected by multiple responsibilities at work. Aim: To assess the family function of the academic staff and to identify the risk factors of family dysfunction. Subjects and Methods: A Cross-sectional descriptive study on 277 academic physicians from different specialties working at the faculty of medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt, participated in an online anonymous questionnaire assessing sociodemographic characteristics, work duties, and family function using APGAR score. Results: Mean age of participants was 38.38 years; Females represented 60.6%. Seventy-two percent of the medical staff had severe family dysfunction, 21% had moderate family dysfunction and only 7% of them were highly functional. There was a statistically significant relation between family dysfunction and age, gender, marital status, having children, job title, and the number of working hours per week. Conclusion: This study showed that most of the academic physicians were suffering from severe family dysfunction. Further studies about work stress in faculties of medicine in Egypt and its impact on family function are needed for further assessment and improvement.