background In the last few years international studies have reported on increase in burn-out and depressive symptoms among psychiatry residents. In the field of research, however, commitment and dedication are now being mentioned more frequently as positive factors that counterbalance burn-out.
aim To find out how a group of Dutch psychiatry residents feel about their work, to discover their degree of burn-out and commitment and to clarify the various factors involved.
method 59 psychiatry residents from four teaching hospitals were asked to complete questionnaires concerning burn-out (u-bos-c), commitment (uwes-15) and personality (bfi-nl). Respondents were also asked to describe how they felt about their experiences during their work and to give their views on the instruction and training they were receiving.
results In the u-bos-c section only four trainees (almost 7%) met the criteria for burn-out. In the bfi-nl section the psychiatry residents obtained significantly lower scores on neuroticism and higher scores on empathy than did a comparable norm group of a similar age. The scores of the psychiatry residents indicated that the term ‘being proud of your work’ was significantly related to a feeling of commitment and particularly to all subscales that reflected commitment.
conclusion In our study the percentage of psychiatry residents with burn-out is significantly lower than the percentage reported elsewhere in the literature. In fact, our results demonstrate that the psychiatry residents who were the subject of our study regarded themselves as being emotionally stable, friendly and committed to their work.