Concerning rates of physician distress and burnout are well known within the literature.1, 2 Research has expanded our understanding of the multifactorial drivers of physician distress,3, 4, 5, 6 increased attention toward less commonly studied types of distress such as moral injury,7 and explored the prevalence and negative impacts for physicians and patients.8, 9, 10, 11 This has led to broad promotion of physician well-being efforts10, 12 such as the recommendation of clinician well-being as a fourth aim of quality care,11 the addition of wellness elements to the common residency program requirements by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME),13 and the prioritization of clinician wellbeing by the National Academy of Medicine.14

As these efforts unfold, there is no consensus construct of physician wellness or well-being to guide the work. While there are standard definitions for types of physician distress, such as burnout and depression,15, 16 wellness is not simply the opposite or absence of physician burnout, and is considered a complex and multifaceted state.17, 18, 19 While a definition for physician well-being has been proposed,19 there has been limited inquiry or validation of this or other expert-informed constructs in the literature.20 Previous reviews of existing conceptual models of physician well-being found several models representing aspects of well-being such as resilience, coping, and professional fulfillment, but no models specifically and holistically describing the physician wellness concept.20 Given its intrinsic importance and attention within healthcare, greater understanding of the physician wellness construct is warranted.

We aimed to advance the knowledge of the physician wellness concept and develop a stakeholder-informed model of pediatrician wellness. We secondarily aimed to identify potential differences in wellness priorities across pediatrician identities, considering that wellness needs and perspectives may differ across identities due to social, cultural, and environmental factors.21, 22 To achieve these goals, we used Group Concept Mapping (GCM), a participatory research method which utilizes qualitative and quantitative methodologies to create a conceptual model of a complex topic and allows participants to rate the importance of clusters within the model.23, 24