The Impact of a Financial Capability Program on the Financial Well-being of Medical Practitioners

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to determine the impact of a financial capability program on the financial well-being of medical practitioners in the public hospitals in Selangor, Malaysia. Its specific aims were to determine the levels of financial capability, financial satisfaction and financial practice of medical practitioners before and after a financial capability program intervention. A total of 100 medical practitioners were randomly assigned to intervention (50%) and control groups (50%) after both completing the financial capability initial assessment and evaluation (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). There were equal numbers of males and females in the intervention sample compared to 19 males and 31 females in the control group. The findings showed that the paired samples t-test detected the difference between the means scores of financial capability, financial satisfaction and financial practice of the medical practitioners in the two groups (control and intervention) from time 1 (pre intervention) and time 2 (post intervention).  There was no statistically significant difference found in the financial capability, financial satisfaction and financial practice scores between the two groups (intervention and control) prior to the program intervention (time 1). But the post program intervention (time 2) showed statistically significant (p<0.001) difference between the intervention group and the control group confirming a positive impact. The results of this study can be a starting point in using coaching techniques as part of ongoing education program.