Survey of mental health status of Thai physicians

This survey was aimed at obtaining a screening survey on mental health status of Thai physicians. We systematically sampled to obtain 440 Thai physicians from the directory of Thai Center for Continuing Medical Education (CCME). Then, we obtained their mental health status by mailing a questionnaire containing Thai GHQ-28 and asking them to reply, later we obtained through telephone interview. The response rate was 86.3 percent, and 60.3 percent of them were male. The result revealed that 15 male and 13 female physicians had abnormal mental health status. The overall prevalence rate of abnormal mental health status was 7.4 percent. We also found a significant negative association between mental health status and career satisfaction and the use of sedatives in the past 6 months. This study pointed out that mental health of some Thai physicians was to be concerned. These problems, along with their physical health problems, should be tackled systematically and preventatively in order to have the majority of Thai physicians in good health and able to serve the population more effectively.