Strengthening Social Support Networks to Reduce Turnover in Primary Care Teams

Highlight

This study demonstrates that primary care clinicians and staff who perceive strong social support from their team members report significantly lower intentions to leave their jobs. Practices with densely connected social support networks exhibit less turnover intention overall, suggesting that fostering interpersonal support within teams may improve workforce retention.

Study Background

Primary care is a cornerstone of effective health systems, yet it is challenged by high rates of clinician and staff burnout, job dissatisfaction, and turnover, which can negatively impact continuity of care and patient outcomes. Social support among healthcare team members has been theorized to buffer work-related stressors and enhance job satisfaction. However, empirical data quantifying the impact of social support networks on important job outcomes across all members of primary care teams remain limited. Understanding these relationships is crucial for designing interventions that improve clinician well-being and sustain effective team-based care models.

Study Design

This research employed a cross-sectional sociometric network survey design analyzing data from 652 clinicians and staff across 23 primary care practices in New York and Pennsylvania. These sites had implemented team-based primary care models. The study assessed social support using network centrality metrics at both participant-level—such as in-degree (number of incoming support nominations), out-degree (number of outgoing support nominations), and betweenness centrality (degree of acting as a bridge within the network)—and practice-level measures including network density (proportion of actual connections to possible connections) and transitivity (likelihood of triad closure within the network).

Job outcomes evaluated included self-reported job satisfaction, burnout measured by standard tools, and turnover intentions, reflecting participants’ plans or desires to leave their current roles. Statistical analyses examined associations between social network characteristics and job outcomes controlling for relevant confounding factors.

Key Findings

The study found that participants with higher out-degree centrality—meaning they identified more colleagues as sources of support—were significantly less likely to express intentions to leave their jobs (Odds Ratio [OR] = 0.77; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 0.65-0.90; p < .001). This suggests that actively recognizing others as supportive plays a protective role against turnover.

At the practice level, greater network support density, reflecting more interconnected supportive interactions among team members, was independently associated with reduced turnover intention (OR = 0.63; CI 0.40-0.97; p < .05). This highlights that not just individual perceptions but the overall fabric of team support influences workforce retention.

Conversely, betweenness centrality, which indicates an individual’s role as a communication bridge within the network, did not demonstrate significant associations with job satisfaction, burnout, or turnover intentions.

The study did not find statistically significant associations between these social support network measures and burnout or job satisfaction, indicating turnover intention might be more sensitive to social network factors in this context.

Expert Commentary

These findings reinforce the theoretical framework that social support acts as a critical buffer for work-related stress and a facilitator of positive job outcomes in healthcare teams. By quantifying social support through network analytics, this study provides actionable metrics that can guide organizational interventions. For example, enhancing opportunities for clinicians and staff to identify and connect with supportive colleagues could be integrated into team development practices.

However, given the cross-sectional design, causal inference is limited. Longitudinal studies are needed to determine whether strengthening social support networks causally reduces turnover and improves well-being. Additionally, the study was conducted in primary care practices within specific geographic regions, which may limit generalizability.

Interestingly, the lack of association between betweenness centrality and outcomes suggests that central connectors may not necessarily experience greater job satisfaction or reduced burnout, highlighting that the nature of social support—perceived support versus structural position—may differ in its impact.

Conclusion

The study substantiates the importance of social support networks in primary care teams as a modifiable factor that may reduce turnover intentions among clinicians and staff. These findings provide a foundation for the development and testing of network-based interventions aimed at enhancing team cohesion and retention, which could ultimately improve patient care continuity and quality.

Future research should focus on longitudinal designs to ascertain causality, explore mechanisms linking support networks with burnout and satisfaction, and evaluate patient outcomes associated with social support interventions. Healthcare organizations and policymakers should also consider integrating social network enhancement strategies in workforce retention initiatives.

Funding and Registration

Details on study funding and clinical trial registration were not specified in the available abstract. Readers are encouraged to consult the original publication for this information.

References

• Poghosyan L, Moen E, Featherston K, et al. Impact of Social Support Networks on Job Satisfaction, Burnout, and Turnover Intentions in Primary Care Teams. J Gen Intern Med. 2026;41(9):2536-2544. DOI: 10.1007/s11606-026-42045-4. PMID: 42045744.