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. 2025 Aug 29;13(17):2155.
doi: 10.3390/healthcare13172155.

Professional Quality of Life Among Civilian Dentists During Military Conflicts: A Survey Study

Yaniv Mayer  1   2 , Maayan Atzmon Shavit  3 , Eran Gabay  1   2 , Thabet Asbi  1 , Hadar Zigdon Giladi  1   2 , Leon Bilder  1
Affiliations

Professional Quality of Life Among Civilian Dentists During Military Conflicts: A Survey Study

Yaniv Mayer et al. Healthcare (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: Dental professionals are particularly susceptible to occupational stress and burnout, which are amplified during armed conflicts. Civilian dentists continuing to provide care under wartime conditions face unique psychological challenges. This study aimed to evaluate their psychological wellbeing and professional quality of life during military conflict. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using an anonymous online questionnaire distributed through the national dental association. The survey included the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL, version 5) to assess compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress; and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7) to measure anxiety severity. Additional items captured demographic information, professional experience, pre-conflict workload, current work status, family circumstances, and subjective financial impact. The final sample included 239 civilian dentists. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, chi-square tests for categorical variables, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests for between-group comparisons, and multiple regression to identify predictors of psychological outcomes. Results: High compassion satisfaction was reported by 38.9% of respondents, while 70.3% exhibited average burnout levels; only 0.4% had high burnout. Secondary traumatic stress was low in 85.4% of participants. Minimal anxiety was found in 54% of respondents. Significant correlations were found between professional satisfaction and lower anxiety (p < 0.001), lower burnout (p < 0.001), and higher compassion satisfaction (p < 0.001). Dentists with more years of experience and older age reported lower anxiety and burnout levels. Higher pre-conflict workloads were associated with increased anxiety during the conflict (p < 0.001). Dentists working in Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) reported significantly higher anxiety levels compared to their non-HMO counterparts (p = 0.022), although reported income loss was similar between groups. Conclusions: Civilian dentists demonstrated resilience and overall positive professional functioning during prolonged conflict. However, public sector dentists, especially those in HMOs, showed greater vulnerability to anxiety. These findings underscore the need for systemic strategies to support dental professionals' mental health during national crises, with emphasis on those in the public health system.

Keywords: GAD-7; Israel; ProQOL; anxiety; armed conflict; burnout; dentists; professional quality of life; resilience; secondary traumatic stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of job satisfaction among dentists.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Correlations of compassion satisfaction with burnout (A), anxiety (B) and secondary traumatic stress (C).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Higher anxiety levels were associated with longer prewar working hours, with the severe anxiety group averaging over 53 h per week.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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