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Career Paths
Women can narrowly define their careers as a child psychiatrist or more broadly identify the many roles that they hold at any given moment. Within one’s career as a child and adolescent psychiatrist it is not unusual to combine multiple positions. In addition women juggle multiple roles in their personal lives. Professor Rosalind Barnett of Brandeis University did a comprehensive review of work-life balance and found that women who participate in multiple roles are physically healthier and have a greater sense of personal happiness. However a recent Medscape survey found that more women psychiatrists reported symptoms of burnout (60%) compared to their male colleagues (40%). This difference matches that reported for all physicians and has been attributed to women physician experiencing more work-home conflict.
Mentorship plays a significant role in helping women physicians to make career choices. In addition, exposure to rewarding mentoring experiences may help to mitigate some of the negative influences that women in medicine face. Learn more.