STRESS AND ADAPTATION TO THE ONSET OF THE POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL-TRAINING

The beginning of the Postgraduate Medical Training is a very stressful period. Young Doctors begin to confront with the difficulties and responsability of the medical practice. Simultaneously they face important innovations, dues to changes in their life style. This work was transversally designed and performed in 250 young doctors in the beginning of their postgraduate training. The association between psychopatological disturbances, psychosocial vulnerability factors and coping behaviour was evaluated. An elevated stress level was observed and the prevalence of psychiatric disorders was 31%. A discriminant analysis was performed and the presence of psychopathology was strongly associated with the coping behaviour and in a minor degree the personality profile. In the same analysis neither sociodemographic data and nor the stress level demonstrated any relation to the psychopatology simptoms. These findings emphasize that principally the coping behaviour, and also the personality profile plays an important role in the adaptation to this difficult period.