Burden and stress among psychiatry residents and psychiatric healthcare providers

Purpose: The authors compared the levels of job burden and stress in psychiatry residents with those of other healthcare professionals at inpatient and outpatient psychiatric hospitals in a medium-sized Brazilian city. Method: In this study, the levels of job burden and stress of 136 healthcare workers and 36 psychiatry residents from six various psychiatric facilities (two day-hospitals, two inpatient units of psychiatric hospitals, and two general hospitals) were evaluated. All participants completed two rating scales for job burden and stress. Results: Psychiatry residents showed higher job burden and stress than other healthcare workers. There was a negative correlation between the burden scores and age in the sample of employees, but no correlation of burden and age in residents. Conclusion: Psychiatric residents in this study suffered higher levels of job burden and stress than other healthcare professionals, suggesting the need for changes in residency programs to deal with this issue. Copyright © 2011 Academic Psychiatry.