Comparative analysis of the depressive state, stressor, and stress-relieving factors of novice first year residents and established residents in Japan

Abstract

Aim: We sought to compare the depression state of first-year residents, who were new to the system of clinical resident training, with those who had become completely familiar with the system.

Method: A questionnaire-based survey on stress reaction was distributed to 250 resident training hospitals in Japan. The survey was taken by 1,753 first year residents who started postgraduate clinical training in 2011. The survey was given to the students once before the training and-again months after the training had started. The results were compared with those from a similar survey in 2004.

Result: 3 months after the training had started, 30.5% of residents suffered from a depressive state. At that time, the prevalence of residents with newly developed symptoms of depression, who had no depressive state before the training, significantly decreased compared to those in 2004 (19.6 vs. 25.2%, p<0.001). The decrease of depressive state in 2011 may be due to the decrease of working hours, the improvement of stressor and stress-relieving factors.

Discussion: Many residents still experienced a stress reaction. Further improvement of the training environment should be considered.