174966 Social support and acculturation: Predictors of mental health of international medical graduates enrolled in residency programs within United States

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Ashutosh Atri, MD, MS , Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Health Sciences Center, Houston, Houston, TX
International medical graduates (IMGs) constitute between 23 and 28 percent of physicians in the United States, according to the 2004 Physician Masterfile, the database on physicians in practice or in training in United States. This is a highly diverse group in terms of country of origin, language, culture, socioeconomic status, and immigrant experience. Contemporary research maintains that migration is a stressful transition that can impact the migrant psychologically. Research has also asserted that social support and acculturation remain two very important indices for modulating the stress of migration.

A survey module composed of psychometrically tested and established instruments to measure a respondents' social support, acculturation and mental health will be established on an online server. Through emails sent to the office of residency program directors we will attempt to recruit around 4000 medical residents of international origin. The responses will be fed into SPSS 13 and through multiple regression analyses an attempt will be made to quantify the role of social support and acculturation, if any, on the mental of this group. The analysis is expected to be complete by September 2008. This research hopes to improve the understanding and training of IMG residents in the U.S.

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this session participants will be able to a.) Define migration, acculturation, and social support with respect to the different immigrant professional groups in United States b.) Discuss the two major mechanisms through which acculturation and social support impact mental health c.) Articulate five different reasons which make the mental health of immigrant population groups, especially the one explored, an important focus for future research d.) Evaluate the role of social support and acculturation in influencing the mental health of international medical graduates pursuing residency training in United States e.) Adapt with improvements, the methodology used in this study for future web based survey research on similar groups

Keywords: Physicians, Mental Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the primary researcher currently pursuing this research project as the University of Texas, Health Sciences Center, Houston. I hold complete responsibility for the content of the abstract and the actual presentation should my abstract be selected.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.