Factors Associated with Mental Health Status of Medical Residents: A Model-Guided Study

Residency is a stressful period in a physician’s development, characterized by long work hours, time pressure, and excessive work load, that can exert negative effects on residents’ mental health. Job burnout and negative work–home interference may play a major role in residents’ mental health problems. The present study used the job demands-resources model as a theoretical framework to examine the way in which job demands (e.g., workload, emotional demands) and job resources (e.g., supervisor support, job autonomy) were associated with residents’ mental health. From a pool of 290 medical residents, 264 (91 %) completed the questionnaires. Applying structural equation modeling techniques, the results showed that greater emotional exhaustion (β = −.65, SE = .09, p < .001) and more work–home interference (β = −.26, SE = .10, p < .05) were related to poor mental health. Specific job demands (i.e., high workload) and particular job resources (i.e., low opportunities for professional development and low supervisor support) were related to poor mental health not directly but only indirectly, via emotional exhaustion or work–home interference. Thus, through work-related emotional exhaustion, the impact of work conditions might be transmitted to and interfere with non-work related domains such as family life, as well as with domain-unspecific aspects of well-being, such as mental health and psychological distress. Implications of the results and suggestions for future research and practice are outlined.