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


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Yi
Michael S
MS
Section of Outcomes Research, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA. michael.yi@uc.edu
Mrus
Joseph M
JM
Mueller
Caroline V
CV
Luckhaupt
Sara E
SE
Peterman
Amy H
AH
Puchalski
Christina M
CM
Tsevat
Joel
J
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009820:Ohio / Q000453:epidemiology; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012069:Religion and Psychology