*2.2. Survey*

Data were gathered using a comprehensive survey that was constructed at the Department of Family Medicine, University of Split School of Medicine after careful examination of the available literature by two FPs and one family medicine resident. Furthermore, each of the used statements and questions regarding experiences and attitudes on MHDs were carefully selected and adjusted after a detailed review of the similar studies [22,37–39], and after an additional consultation with a clinical psychologist.

Survey consisted of 3 main sections, with the first one exploring a total of 12 items that concentrated on general demographic data of the participants, as well as personal experience regarding MHDs. An MHD was defined as a problem with burnout, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or similar disorder that they consider to be in that group. Hence, gathered information included subjects' gender, age, duration of work experience, patients in care, occupation, region of work and practice localization (urban area or rural area/islands). Furthermore, participants were asked whether they have family history of MHD, confirmed MHD diagnosis sometime in their careers, or if they were certain they have an MHD disorder; however, diagnosis was not officially confirmed. The last items from the first section were connected to the current pandemic, and they included information regarding self-assessed increased risk of COVID-19 adverse outcomes (due to older age or relevant chronic diseases), if they recovered from COVID-19, and if positive MHD status emerged during the pandemic.

The second section of the survey concentrated on the FP's coping mechanisms with stress, as well as attitudes and personal experiences regarding help-seeking behaviors and MHD management. The participants were asked to express their attitudes on what they would be willing to do if confronted with MHD. Multiple answers could be selected from

6 different statements ("taking medication", "going to psychotherapies", "consultation with psychiatrist", "trying to solve the problem alone", "ignore the problem" and "talking to colleagues about it"). Furthermore, the second section included opinions on possible obstacles regarding seeking professional help. Again, multiple answers could be selected from the offered 5 statements ("no obstacles", "not believing it would help", "no time", "fear of being incompetent for work", "fear of colleagues', patients' or society stigmatization"). It should be noted that FPs with positive MHD history answered these questions about their personal experiences, while FPs without MHD history expressed their attitudes on the topic. Additionally, participants were asked what would be the best thing to acutely tackle their current mental health state, and they could choose answers from 5 different statements ("psychiatrist consultation", help not needed", "long vacation", "self-help seminars" or "something else").

Finally, the second section of the survey included analysis of FPs' stress-coping mechanisms. They could choose how they usually behave when confronted with stress from 11 different items. Some of those items represent "adaptive" mechanisms, like "working out", "spending time with family" or "communication with friends", since studies have shown a positive connection between such constructs and favorable psychological outcomes [40–42]. In addition, some others can be considered as "maladaptive" mechanisms, since they are connected to negative mental health outcomes in time ("eating food", "smoking", "drinking alcohol") [40–42].

The third part of the survey assessed various characteristics of FPs' mental health well-being and lifestyle, including resilience, burnout, satisfaction with life and work, and the following of a healthy lifestyle.

Before the survey was forwarded to the entire FP population, it was pilot-tested on randomly chosen 16 family physicians and 5 family medicine residents for comprehensibility and duration assessment. All of the included participants answered to each of the items with ease, without reporting any understanding problems. In addition, they found that the survey duration time was acceptable as well (average 15 min). Hence, as there were no changes done in any part of the survey after pilot testing, the provided answers were included into the final analyses as well.
