Stress and growth factors in psychiatric residency training

Previous studies of emotional stress in psychiatric residency training have been impressionistic, focused on suicide or severe emotional disorder, or derived from small samples. There have been no reports of what large groups of "average" residents consider stressful, and no reports of the relationship of stress factors to personal and professional growth. The authors, working with a Task Force of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training, developed a questionnaire that was distributed to all residents who completed their training in 1975. Summarized in this paper are many of the more significant results obtained from this very detailed survey. The 148 variables examined include considerable demographic data. This is analyzed and correlated with the impact on stressfulness and impact of personal and professional growth rated for many specific aspects of residency training. Concrete data and recommendations that might prove useful to all psychiatry programs are provided. It is hoped that this may stimulate similar research in other areas of postgraduate medical education.