Effects of a financial capability intervention program on financial wellbeing of medical practitioners in Selangor, Malaysia
The practice of medicine though rewarding is extremely demanding and stressful. With such high level of stress, compounded by poor work-life balance, many medical practitioners fail as competent money managers. In today's financial market, the financial service sector has created more acc...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/69588/1/fem%202018%2039%20ir.pdf |
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| Summary: | The practice of medicine though rewarding is extremely demanding and stressful.
With such high level of stress, compounded by poor work-life balance, many medical
practitioners fail as competent money managers. In today's financial market, the
financial service sector has created more accessible and greater financial services that
require smart decision making interactions. This expectation has heightened the
requirement for a financial capability intervention program on the financial wellbeing
of the medical practitioners. This study adopted a sequential explanatory mixed
methodology with randomized controlled pre-test-post-test experimental design. The
Family Resource Management Model and the Financial Capability Model were
integrated into a Logic Model Framework to serve as the proposed research conceptual
framework. The Theory of Planned Behaviour and the theory of Transtheoretical
Model of Behaviour Change were utilised to measure the outcome effect and to
identify the Stages of Behavior Change of the participated medical practitioners before
and after a financial capability intervention program.
A total of 100 medical practitioners were randomly assigned into intervention and
control groups in equal proportion after both groups completed the pre-test
questionnaire. The intervention group participants attended a series of five two hour
one on one coaching session while the control group did not. After a four-month
duration both the groups completed the post evaluation (post-test). In-depth interviews
were conducted on seven selected participants based on criterion sampling. Parametric
statistical techniques and thematic analysis were used to analyse the quantitative and
qualitative data respectively.Impact indicators revealed statistically significant increase in the levels of financial
knowledge (30%), skill (24%), confidence (9%), practice (20%), financial capability
(20%) and financial wellbeing (20%). There was also large magnitude of change (on
Cohen’s interpretation) in the effect sizes of within subject (pre and post) and between
subjects (intervention and control) of financial knowledge (d=2.15), skill (d=2.53),
practice (d=1.960), financial capability (d=2.4) and financial wellbeing (d=1.68)
whereas financial confidence showed medium effect (d=0.63). The control group did
not show any significant changes. No significant relationship was found between
financial knowledge and financial wellbeing as well as between financial skill and
financial wellbeing of the medical practitioners before and after the intervention
program. However, financial confidence, financial practice, and overall financial
capability showed positive linear correlation with financial wellbeing. Significant
desirable positive financial behaviour stages of change were found in managing
money, planning ahead, making choices and staying informed domains between those
medical practitioners who were coached (intervention group) and those who were not
(control group). The pre-test and post-test data of the control group showed that their
financial behavioral stage remained unchanged. Alternat ively, the medical
practitioners who attended the four-month coaching program showed a distinct
forward movement from one financial stage to another.
The findings of this study have implications for policy makers, financial educators,
financial counsellors and coachers, workplace administrators, financial planners and
medical practitioners themselves. Similar to coaching sport athletes, financial
coaching have implications to enhance financial capability by building financial
confidence. Hence, strategic financial activities for healthcare workers by opening
staff financial wellness resource centres in the hospital to give coaching and
counselling need to be considered. It is recommended that prior to designing
appropriate financial literacy initiatives and undertake policy interventions it is vital
for policy makers to understand consumer behavior and identify their weak financial
areas based on initial assessment. Collaborative public-private partnership to drive
financial capability programme at national level as an essential life skill from early
age to adulthood is recommended. Finally, financial capability intervention
programmes need to be promoted and complemented with coaching and counselling
with regular follow up to motivate behaviour change.
In summary, this financial capability intervention program effectively brought about
significant positive effect on the financial capability of the medical practitioners and
subsequently on their financial wellbeing. As such, a logic model framework for
financial capability intervention program was proposed through this study. Hence, this
financial capability intervention program sets groundwork and stronger foundation for
future research among other target population. |
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