Women training to be physicians experience a greater increase in depressive symptoms during their internship year than their male counterparts, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
During the 2015-16 academic year, researchers analyzed the mental health of over 3,100 interns training to become physicians at 44 medical institutions across the country.
Before and during their internship year, participants reported depressive symptoms using the Patient Health Questionnaire and reported how often work responsibilities interfered with family life using the Work Family Conflict Scale.
Here are three takeaways from the study.
1. Before starting their residency, men and women had similar levels of depressive symptoms. After six months, both men and women experienced an increase in depression scores, but women experienced a statistically significantly greater increase.
2. Work-family conflict accounted for more than a third of the disparity between depressive symptoms for men and women. Among young academic physicians with children, women spend nine more hours per week engaging in domestic activities than their male counterparts, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
3. If systems work to lessen the conflict between work and family life, there may be improvements in physician mental health, which could help reduce poor patient care that results from depression among physicians.
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