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. 2023 Oct 19;7(1):e238.
doi: 10.1017/cts.2023.645. eCollection 2023.

Supporting Our Physician Parents (SOPPort): A pilot program for parental wellness at the Massachusetts General Hospital

Josephine H Li  1 , Lauren E Hanley  2 , Camille E Powe  1 , Jacqueline A Seiglie  1 , Melanie S Haines  1 , Marc N Wein  1 , Amy Bregar  2 , Karen K Miller  1 , Laura E Dichtel  1
Affiliations

Supporting Our Physician Parents (SOPPort): A pilot program for parental wellness at the Massachusetts General Hospital

Josephine H Li et al. J Clin Transl Sci. .

Abstract

Physician parents encounter unique challenges in balancing new parenthood with work responsibilities, especially upon their return from parental leave. We designed a pilot program that incorporated 1:1 parental coaching to expectant and new physician parents and provided stipends for lactation support and help at home. Additional initiatives included launching a virtual new parent group during the COVID-19 pandemic and starting an emergency backup pump supplies program. There was positive feedback for our Parental Wellness Program (PWP), which was used to secure expanded funding. Pilot results showed that our program had a meaningful impact on parental wellness, morale, productivity, and lactation efforts.

Keywords: Parental wellness; career development; faculty retention; lactation support; mentoring; wellness.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Summary of parental coaching outline.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Additional testimonials from Supporting Our Physician Parents (SOPPort) participants.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
(a) Distribution of the number of estimated hours missed at work if the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization (MGPO) Lactation Support Program were unavailable (b) perceived benefits by users of the MGPO Lactation Support Program.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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