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

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.