title: Relationship between occupational stress and depressive mood among interns and residents in a tertiary hospital, Seoul, Korea.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Occupational stress can have a harmful effect on the individual both physically and psychologically. In Korea, occupational stress of physician is rarely demonstrated. Although it is well reported that physicians tend to have a high incidence of minor psychiatric disorders, the magnitude of the problem remains unclear. Interns and residents are thought to be under substantial amount of stress, and tend to have psychiatric disorder. In this paper, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between the occupational stress and depression of residents.
  
  
  METHODS
  The participants of this study were surgical and medical residents in a tertiary hospital in Korea. For measurement of occupational stress, we used an occupational stress scale. In addition, to evaluate the prevalence of depression, we used the Beck Depression Inventory.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Female doctors showed higher degree of occupational stress than the males. The interns and chief residents showed higher degree of occupational stress than the other residents. Interestingly, in this study, most of the participants experienced a depressive mood. Compared with the general population, job demand and culture of workplace were high. Occupational stress was the only significant predictor of a depressive mood.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hospital residents experience a high degree of occupational stress leading to a depressed mood due to various risk factors. Therefore, it is essential to recognize the occupational stress of residents early, to encourage positive competition and peer and social support, and to help improve the residents' ability to cope with stress.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Ewha University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Keon
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Ewha University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Sunhwa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Ewha University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Yoon Hee
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Choi
keywords: Depression; Internship and residency; Occupational stress