ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Family Medicine and Primary Care
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1596652
Factors associated with family physicians' perceived self-efficacy in multimorbidity management
Provisionally accepted
- 1Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Beira interior, Covilhã, Castelo Branco, Portugal
- 2Family Health Unit Beira Ria, Gafanha da Nazaré, Portugal
- 3RISE-Health, Department of Community Medicine, Information and Health Decision Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
- 4MEDCIDS-Department of Community Medicine, Information and Decision in Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
- 5AdiT-LAB, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Viana do Castelo, Portugal
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Multimorbidity is a significant challenge for primary care. No previous research has examined selfefficacy in managing patients with multimorbidity among Portuguese family physicians. This study aims to assess self-efficacy levels in family physicians and identifying significant associations.Analytical cross-sectional study conducted among Portuguese family physicians from June to August 2024. A non-probability snowball sampling method was used to distribute a web-based survey. Ten independent variables (sex, age, marital status, children, professional stage, years of experience, workplace, work-family conflict, perceived organizational support and physician burden) were studied with the outcome variable perceived self-efficacy. Multiple logistic regression model was performed. 102 family physicians completed the online questionnaire, with a median age of 38 years and a median work experience of 10.5 years. The majority of the sample were female (78.4%), married/cohabiting (70.6%), and employed in family health units (87.3%). Sixty-nine participants (67.6%) perceived their self-efficacy in multimorbidity management as high (Likert scale ratings 4 or 5). In the multivariate analysis being single, divorced, or widowed; having children; being a family physician trainee; and experiencing physician burden were associated with a reduced odds of perceived self-efficacy in managing multimorbidity. The findings of the present study highlight the importance of addressing physician burden to improve perceived self-efficacy in managing multimorbidity. Therefore, efforts should focus on reducing this burden by alleviating workplace stress and providing targeted training in managing multimorbidity. Improving self-efficacy is expected to encourage physicians to engage in proactive, patient-centered care, leading to better health outcomes.
Keywords: multimorbidity, Primary Care, self-efficacy, Work-family conflict (WFC), Perceived organizational support (POS), physician burden
Received: 20 Mar 2025; Accepted: 12 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Prazeres and Teixeira. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Filipe Prazeres, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Beira interior, Covilhã, 6201-001, Castelo Branco, Portugal
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