Relationships Between Religious Commitment, Workplace Experiences, and Professional and Psychological Outcomes Among U.S. Muslim Physicians.

Abstract

Purpose: To examine relationships between religiosity, workplace discrimination, religious accommodation, and related professional and psychological outcomes among U.S. Muslim physicians.

Method: In 2021, the authors surveyed 264 physicians from 3 U.S.-based Muslim clinician organizations. Religious commitment, as measured by multiple items, was evaluated as a possible predictor of workplace discrimination and accommodation; job turnover; career satisfaction; workplace motivation; and belonging, burnout, and depression. Bivariate regression models were used to identify possible significant relationships between predictor and outcome variables. Predictors with meaningful bivariate analyses were included in separate multivariate regression models for each outcome.

Results: Participants' mean age was 39.5 years (standard deviation, 10.03). Most were male (160/246; 65%), were U.S.-born (146/244; 60%), completed medical school in the United States (190/243; 78%), and wore a beard/hijab (135/235; 57%). Participants identified as African American (40/247; 16%), Arab (55/247; 22%), South Asian (82/247; 33%), and White (70/247; 28%). Multivariate models demonstrated that religious importance was positively associated with discrimination from patients (odds ratio [OR] = 3.78; P = .02) and depression (OR = 5.36; P = .002), and negatively associated with prayer accommodation at work (OR = 0.20; P = .001). Engaging in congregational religious activities was negatively associated with discrimination from patients (OR = 0.64; P = .006) and job turnover (OR = 0.63; P = .02), and positively associated with accommodations for prayer (OR = 1.42; P = .008) and general religious identity accommodation (OR = 1.47; P = .01). Additionally, participant race and ethnicity were variably associated with these outcomes.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates how religious identity may negatively associate with workplace experiences and well-being among U.S. Muslim physicians and highlights the buffering role of religious practice. It spotlights an urgent need for academic medical centers to ameliorate religious discrimination and implement workplace accommodation policies for Muslim physicians.