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The moderating role of resilience in the association between workload and depressive symptoms among radiology residents in China: results from a nationwide cross-sectional study

  • Radiological Education
  • Published:
European Radiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

A Commentary to this article was published on 25 August 2023

Abstract

Objectives

The current study aimed to explore the moderating role of psychological resilience in the association between workload and depressive symptoms among radiology residents during standardized residency training (SRT) in China.

Methods

A nationwide cross-sectional online survey was conducted among radiology residents in China. Workload was measured by working hours per week and the frequency of frontline nightwork in the last month. Resilience was assessed by the 2-item Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale. Depressive symptoms were measured by the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales. The hierarchical regression and simple slope analyses were performed to examine the moderating effect of resilience.

Results

Among 3666 radiology residents, the mean age was 27.3 years (SD = 2.6) and 58% were female. About 24.4% of the participants reported medium to severe depressive symptoms. The hierarchical regression showed that working hours (ba = 0.11, 95%CI: 0.08, 0.14) and having frontline nightwork more than once (ba = 1.22, 95%CI: 0.67, 1.78) were positively associated with depressive symptoms; the moderating effect of resilience was significant in the association of depressive symptoms with working hours (ba =  − 0.02, 95%CI: − 0.03, − 0.01) and having frontline nightwork more than once (ba =  − 0.28, 95%CI: − 0.49, − 0.07). The simple slope test showed the association between workload-related variables and depressive symptoms was only significant in those with a relatively lower level of resilience.

Conclusions

The study found that resilience was an important modifier buffering the positive association between workload and depressive symptoms among radiology residents in China. Future medical training programs are suggested to include effective intervention components to increase personal resilience.

Clinical relevance statement

Heavy workload in clinical setting may pose adverse effect on mental health and job performance of radiology residents. The study investigated whether psychological resilience would mitigate the association between workload and depressive symptoms among Chinese radiology residents.

Key Points

• Radiology residents with a heavier workload presented a higher level of depressive symptoms in China.

• Psychological resilience mitigated the positive association between workload and depressive symptoms.

• The association between workload and depressive symptoms was only statistically significant in radiology residents with a relatively lower level of resilience.

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Abbreviations

CAR:

Chinese Association of Radiologists

CD-RISC2:

2-Item Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale

CT:

Computed tomography

DASS:

Depression Anxiety Stress Scales

JD-R:

Job Demand Resource

MR:

Magnetic resonance

SRT:

Standardized residency training

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Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the time and effort of all the project staff and participants.

Funding

The authors state that this work has not received any funding.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University, Haidian District, Beijing, 100084, China

    Sitong Luo, Yuhang Zhang, Peicheng Wang & Jiming Zhu

  2. Institute for Healthy China, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Sitong Luo, Yuhang Zhang & Jiming Zhu

  3. School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Peicheng Wang

  4. Department of Radiology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

    Zhenghan Yang & Zhenchang Wang

  5. Department of Radiology, Ningbo No.2 Hospital, 315000, Ningbo, China

    Jianjun Zheng & Jingfeng Zhang

Authors
  1. Sitong Luo
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  7. Jingfeng Zhang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jingfeng Zhang or Jiming Zhu.

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Guarantor

The scientific guarantor of this publication is Jiming Zhu.

Conflict of interest

My co-authors and I have approved the manuscript for submission and do not have any competing interests to declare.

Statistics and biometry

No complex statistical methods were necessary for this paper.

Informed consent

Written informed consent was waived by the Institutional Review Board.

Oral informed consent was obtained from all participants in this study.

Ethical approval

Institutional Review Board approval was obtained.

Study subjects or cohorts overlap

The study subjects have been previously reported in “The satisfaction with radiology residency training in China: results of a nationwide survey,” which was published in Insights into Imaging in 2022 Dec. This published study involved 3666 participants. The research questions, main variables used, and analysis strategies were different between the previously published study and the current study.

Methodology

  • retrospective

  • cross-sectional study

  • multicenter study

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Luo, S., Zhang, Y., Wang, P. et al. The moderating role of resilience in the association between workload and depressive symptoms among radiology residents in China: results from a nationwide cross-sectional study. Eur Radiol 34, 695–704 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-023-10021-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-023-10021-7

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