| Past studies have revealed psychological health problems and work dissatisfaction among health professionals, but less is known about the factors that may explain these difficulties (e.g., Cohen & Patten, 2005). The goal of this dissertation is to examine the antecedents of health professionals' satisfaction at work and psychological health based on an empirically validated theory. To this end, self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000) is used as a conceptual framework and autonomy support (Black & Deci, 2000; Grolnick & Ryan, 1989) is proposed as a principal predictor of work satisfaction and psychological health.;The first article is a literature review of the consequences and correlates of autonomy support in various life domains. An overview of self-determination theory is first provided, followed by a review of the consequences and correlates of autonomy support in different life domains. Limits are mentioned and future research directions are discussed.;The second article aims at testing a predictive model of medical residents' psychological health. Tasks self-concordance (Sheldon & Elliot, 1999) and self-awareness (Goldman & Kernis, 2002) are hypothesized to be two different pathways toward autonomy that should independently predict psychological health. The model further posits that perceived supervisors' autonomy support should be an important determinant of both tasks self-concordance and self-awareness. This study also tests whether the proposed model predicts a more severe indicator of psychological distress, namely suicidal ideation. A total of 333 medical residents from the province of Quebec completed a questionnaire, which included measures of autonomy support, tasks self-concordance, self-awareness, and psychological health. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed an excellent model fit, for both psychological health and suicidal ideation. All observed relationships remained significant when the effects of stressors related to medicine, stressful life events, and sociodemographic variables were controlled. The results are discussed along with their theoretical and practical implications.;The third article explores the contribution of colleagues' autonomy support in the prediction of health professionals' work satisfaction and psychological health. A total of 597 students in training or recent graduates in dentistry, medicine, and veterinary medicine from the province of Quebec completed a questionnaire, which included measures of supervisors' and colleagues' autonomy support, work satisfaction, and psychological health. Hierarchical regression analyses confirmed that colleagues' autonomy support predicts work satisfaction and psychological health when controlling for stressful life events and sociodemographic variables. Furthermore, colleagues' autonomy support adds to the prediction of health professionals' work satisfaction, subjective well-being, and suicidal ideation above and beyond supervisors' autonomy support. Finally, a significant interaction is found for work satisfaction. The theoretical and practical implications of this research are highlighted.;This dissertation comprises three scientific articles. The first article is a literature review and the next two are empirical.;Keywords: autonomy support, psychological health, work satisfaction, suicidal ideation, self-determination theory, self-awareness, tasks self-concordance, medicine, dentists, veterinarians. |
