Social Capital and Health-Related Quality of Life among Primary Health Care physicians: The mediating role of health-related behaviors

Abstract Background This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between social capital and physicians' health-related quality of life(HRQoL) in primary health care institutions. Simultaneously, we will examine the mediating role of health-related behaviors in the process. Methods Data was obtained from a nationwide cross-sectional survey conducted in 2021. Sociodemographic characteristics and health-related behaviors were collected by a self-administered questionnaire. We used the social capital of healthcare organizations reported by employees (SOCAPO-E) scale to measure the social capital and the EuroQol-five dimension-five level (EQ-5D-5L) to measure physicians’ HRQoL. The Tobit model was performed to evaluate the association between social capital and HRQoL. A bootstrap approach was used to assess the mediating effect of health-related behaviors. Results The results showed that social capital (β = 0.056, p<0.001) was significantly and positively associated with physicians' HRQoL. Health-related behaviors moderately mediated the relationship between social capital and HRQoL (BootSE = 0.0007, BootCI=[0.0005,0.0032]). In addition, the regression analysis revealed that sex, age, residence, employment form, and chronic diseases were also significantly associated with physicians' HRQoL. Conclusion Social capital not only directly affected physicians' HRQoL, but also indirectly affected HRQoL through health-related behaviors. Our findings suggested that investing in social capital may serve as an effective strategy for enhancing physicians' occupational health.