Career Crafting Training Intervention for Physicians: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background Physicians work in a highly demanding work setting where ongoing changes affect their work and challenge their employability (ie, their ability and willingness to continue working). In this high-pressure environment, physicians could benefit from proactively managing or crafting their careers; however, they tend not to show this behavior. The new concept of career crafting concerns proactively making choices and adapting behavior regarding both short-term job design (ie, job crafting) as well as longer-term career development (ie, career self-management). However, so far, no intervention studies have aimed at enhancing career crafting behavior among physicians. Given that proactive work and career behavior have been shown to be related to favorable outcomes, we designed an intervention to support career crafting behavior and employability of physicians. Objective The objectives of this study were to describe (1) the development and (2) the design of the evaluation of a randomized controlled career crafting intervention to increase job crafting, career self-management, and employability. Methods A randomized controlled intervention study was designed for 141 physicians in two Dutch hospitals. The study was designed and will be evaluated based on parts of the intervention mapping protocol. First, needs of physicians were assessed through 40 interviews held with physicians and managers. This pointed to a need to support physicians in becoming more proactive regarding their careers as well as in building awareness of proactive behaviors in order to craft their current work situation. Based on this, a training program was developed in line with their needs. A number of theoretical methods and practical applications were selected as the building blocks of the training. Next, participants were randomly assigned to either the waitlist-control group (ie, received no training) or the intervention group. The intervention group participated in a 4-hour training session and worked on four self-set goals. Then, a coaching conversation took place over the phone. Digital questionnaires distributed before and 8 weeks after the intervention assessed changes in job crafting, career self-management, employability, and changes in the following additional variables: job satisfaction, career satisfaction, work-home interference, work ability, and performance. In addition, a process evaluation was conducted to examine factors that may have promoted or hindered the effectiveness of the intervention. Results Data collection was completed in March 2020. Evaluation of outcomes and the research process started in April 2020. Study results were submitted for publication in September 2020. Conclusions This study protocol gives insight into the systematic development and design of a career crafting training intervention that is aimed to enhance job crafting, career self-management, and employability. This study will provide valuable information to physicians, managers, policy makers, and other researchers that aim to enhance career crafting. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) RR1-10.2196/18432

A Career Crafting Training Program: Results of an Intervention Study

“…This study contributes to the literature on job crafting and career behavior since this is the first intervention study that examines career crafting empirically. An intervention study design is used, in which development is described in Van Leeuwen et al ( 2020 ). This study shows how job crafting and career behavior can be addressed and stimulated in an intervention.…”

“…This resulted in several adjustments in the allocation of time and wording to adjust the content better to the perspectives of physicians. For an elaborate version of how this intervention was developed, we refer to Van Leeuwen et al ( 2020 ).…”

“…The intervention tested in the present study is a group-level training combining theory, practical exercises, and action planning. It was developed using a systematic intervention development protocol (Van Leeuwen et al, 2020 ). The intervention is expected to enhance job crafting and career self-management.…”

“…We propose to refine the conceptualization of career crafting to “individuals' proactive behaviors targeted at changing both their present as well as their future work situation, with the ultimate aim to optimize career outcomes.” Such a refined conceptualization is necessary in order to actively target individuals' specific behaviors via an intervention. Therefore, in this intervention study, we operationalize career crafting as an umbrella concept, consisting of two types of proactive behavior, including (i) actions focused on optimizing the current job and work environment via job crafting and (ii) proactive behavior focused on the longer-term career (i.e., career self-management behavior; Van Leeuwen et al, 2020 ).…”

“…The central question addressed in this study is: What are the effects of a group-level training on physicians' career crafting behavior (i.e., job crafting behavior and career self-management) and employability? This study contributes to the literature on career crafting by empirically examining the effects of a recently developed career crafting intervention in which systematic development is elaboratively described in Van Leeuwen et al ( 2020 ). In doing so, this study aims to integrate the fields on job crafting and career behavior conceptually and empirically.…”