IMPROVING THE PROFESSIONAL SELF-EFFICACY COGNITIONS OF IMMIGRANT DOCTORS WITH BALINT GROUPS

Immigrant doctors have been found to exhibit professional distress, es pecially if they are retrained to another medical specialty. This stud y looks at the effects of a long-term Balint group in increasing profe ssional self-efficacy cognitions of immigrant physicians treating drug addicts in a home-based community program in their adopted homeland. Results of the group showed positive significant changes in specific s elf-efficacy cognitions related to treatment of drug addicts in the co mmunity, and an increase in psychosocial self-efficacy from baseline t o three other assessment points. The importance of long-term Balint gr oups with doctors in general and with retraining immigrant doctors in particular is also carefully elucidated.