EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION REACHING FOR GOLD IN A PERSON-CENTERED WORK–LIFE BALANCE

Abstract

If you are an employee or employer, occupational health physician, or a physician concerned with the work–life balance of your patient, this fourth issue on work–life balance and burnout is for you. It culminates in practical guidance captured in the Tokyo Declaration on Work–Life balance together with five articles that clarifies the golden reach of person-centered medicine (PCM) in occupational health of both a clinician and a patient.
How this golden reach extends much further than patient-centered medicine is captured in the first article. An employed person, whether patient or practitioner, works within an interpersonal context in which all role players including the employer should actively contribute in nurturing an employee’s well-being and work–life balance. The second article engages with the reach of PCM in reporting on the personality features needed to cope with (or avert) unemployment as is evident in a comparison between 245 long-term unemployed individuals and a control group of 1,948. The third article articulates how the golden reach of PCM is informed by the empirical relationship between work engagement and burnout. The fourth article considers the work–life balance among Japan’s physicians in the context of ongoing work style reform. The fifth article underscores that a person-centered work environment is crucial in addressing the challenges of burnout among physicians and medical students.