The study of hardiness in medical residents

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Abstract

The objectives were to study the level of hardiness in residents of medical specialties and assess the relationship of this variable and its components with gender, age, marital status, having children and specialty fields.
In this cross-sectional study, 194 second year medical residents from Tehran University of Medical science completed our survey. Second year residents were chosen as the reference population because in some specialties, residents must pass MPH course or general internal medicine during the first year so they are not exposed to their specialties and the related clinical environment. On the other hand, third and fourth year residents considered senior and usually are confront with lower work load and stress.
The mean hardiness score was 63.91±11.09 (with potential max score of 100 and the min of 0). The residents of neurosurgery, psychiatry and emergency medicine had the highest scores in hardiness. There was a significant relationship between gender and control as a component of hardiness: male residents have higher score in control than female (P=0.009). The relationship between hardiness, commitment and control with marital status was also significant (P=0.04, P=0.002, P=0.005): the married physicians had higher scores in these three components. There was a significant relationship between commitment and having children (P=0.014).
Considering the important role of hardiness as a stress modifier, it’s necessary to provide education for increasing hardiness among residents especially for high risk groups. These programs can help them choose appropriate coping and adaptive strategies, and decrease burn out, job dissatisfaction and patient mismanagement

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Journal of Psychological Studies
Volume 4, Issue 4
January 2009
Pages 95-112

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