Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 May 2:7:9.
doi: 10.1186/1472-6920-7-9.

Self-rated health of primary care house officers and its relationship to psychological and spiritual well-being

Michael S Yi  1 , Joseph M Mrus, Caroline V Mueller, Sara E Luckhaupt, Amy H Peterman, Christina M Puchalski, Joel Tsevat
Affiliations

Self-rated health of primary care house officers and its relationship to psychological and spiritual well-being

Michael S Yi et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: The stress associated with residency training may place house officers at risk for poorer health. We sought to determine the level of self-reported health among resident physicians and to ascertain factors that are associated with their reported health.

Methods: A questionnaire was administered to house officers in 4 residency programs at a large Midwestern medical center. Self-rated health was determined by using a health rating scale (ranging from 0 = death to 100 = perfect health) and a Likert scale (ranging from "poor" health to "excellent" health). Independent variables included demographics, residency program type, post-graduate year level, current rotation, depressive symptoms, religious affiliation, religiosity, religious coping, and spirituality.

Results: We collected data from 227 subjects (92% response rate). The overall mean (SD) health rating score was 87 (10; range, 40-100), with only 4 (2%) subjects reporting a score of 100; on the Likert scale, only 88 (39%) reported excellent health. Lower health rating scores were significantly associated (P < 0.05) with internal medicine residency program, post-graduate year level, depressive symptoms, and poorer spiritual well-being. In multivariable analyses, lower health rating scores were associated with internal medicine residency program, depressive symptoms, and poorer spiritual well-being.

Conclusion: Residents' self-rated health was poorer than might be expected in a cohort of relatively young physicians and was related to program type, depressive symptoms, and spiritual well-being. Future studies should examine whether treating depressive symptoms and attending to spiritual needs can improve the overall health and well-being of primary care house officers.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Histogram of health rating scores.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Reported general health by residency program.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Kash KM, Holland JC, Breitbart W, Berenson S, Dougherty J, Ouellette-Kobasa S, Lesko L. Stress and burnout in oncology. Oncology (Williston Park) 2000;14:1621–1633. - PubMed
    1. Butterfield PS. The stress of residency. A review of the literature. Arch Intern Med. 1988;148:1428–1435. doi: 10.1001/archinte.148.6.1428. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hsu K, Marshall V. Prevalence of depression and distress in a large sample of Canadian residents, interns, and fellows. Am J Psychiatry. 1987;144:1561–1566. - PubMed
    1. Bellini LM, Baime M, Shea JA. Variation of mood and empathy during internship. JAMA. 2002;287:3143–3146. doi: 10.1001/jama.287.23.3143. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Schneider SE, Phillips WM. Depression and anxiety in medical, surgical, and pediatric interns. Psychol Rep. 1993;72:1145–1146. - PubMed

Publication types