Young Doctor Movements: motives for membership among aspiring and young family physicians

BACKGROUND: Over the past decade, young doctor movements (YDMs) have gained recognition for their efforts in promoting the discipline of family medicine. With growth and expansion comes the need for an inquiry into the membership motives of current/intending members. AIM AND OBJECTIVES: This study was aimed at determining the main reasons why young and aspiring family physicians (FPs) joined their regional YDM. It was also concerned with determining the main factors that will make non-members want to join a YDM as well as assessing for differences in the responses within YDM members on the one hand, and between YDM members and non-members on the other. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional web-based study. Using a list of 11 items generated following a series of discussions and feedback among selected FPs and FP trainees, respondents annotated levels of agreement on reasons for current or desired YDM membership. The Mann–Whitney U test was used to determine the distribution and differences in the mean of rank scores of the responses from YDM and non-YDM members while the Kruskal–Wallis test was used to describe same for the various YDMs. RESULTS: The total number of respondents was 200, out of which 102 (51.0%) were current YDM members, 97 (48.5%) were non-members and 1 (0.5%) respondent did not state his/her membership status. Non-YDM members indicated a predominantly academic/professional motive for membership while YDM members indicated the opportunity to socialise with FPs abroad and in their country as their foremost reasons for membership. A mixture of academic, professional and social motives was observed for respondents from Vasco da Gama; predominantly academic and professional motives for respondents from Spice route. CONCLUSIONS: While gaining recognition and improving one's practice may be the ultimate goal of an aspiring FP, socialising within a network of like-minded professionals maybe the young FP's way of coping with demands of the discipline.