Social support and depressive symptoms among physicians in tertiary hospitals in China: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Social support is an important factor for individual’s mental health. However, the association between social support and depressive symptoms among physicians in China’ tertiary hospitals has not been explored. This study aimed to investigate its association among physicians stratifying by sex. Methods Six hundred fifty-six physicians were enrolled from 12 tertiary hospitals of Shandong Province, China. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Social support was evaluated using the Social Support Rating Scale. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between social support and depressive symptoms among physicians. Results The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 42.3% and the average social support score was 38.82 ± 7.53 among physicians. Lower subjective social support scores (male: β = − 0.317, p < 0.001; female: β = − 0.241, p < 0.001) and lower objective social support scores (male: β = − 0.218, p = 0.038; female: β = − 0.277, p = 0.035) were associated with high depressive symptoms among physicians. Lower support utilization scores (β = − 0.472, p < 0.001) were associated with high depressive symptoms among male physicians. Conclusions Chinese physicians had a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms and lower social support than the Chinese general population. Objective and subjective social support were inversely associated with depressive symptoms among male and female physicians while support utilization was inversely associated with depressive symptoms among male rather than female physicians. It is critical to improve physicians’ mental health through strengthening social support in China.

Urban-rural differences in the association between social activities and depressive symptoms among older adults in China: a cross-sectional study

“…Interviewees’ answers ranged from 0 (rarely) to 3 (most of the time) for negative questions, and 3 (rarely) to 0 (most of the time) for positive questions [ 25 ]. The scores ranged from 1 to 30 [ 26 ], a cutoff point of 10 was used to identify patients with depressive symptoms [ 27 , 28 ].…”

Fear of future workplace violence and its influencing factors among nurses in Shandong, China: a cross-sectional study

“…Shandong Province is one of the typical provinces in China in terms of its population structure, social, and culture aspects [ 23 ]. A multistage random sampling method was applied for this survey [ 24 ]. First, 16 perfecture-level cities were classified into three groups (high, medium, and low) according to per capita GDP level.…”

“…The questionnaire was created applying “ Wenjuanwang ” ( https://www.wenjuan.com/ ), a platform of the electronic questionnaires. We sent a web page of the questionnaire to participants’ mobile phones using WeChat (a social media app) [ 24 ]. The anonymity of participants and the confidentiality of their responses were ensured in the survey.…”

“…Social support was measured applying the Chinese version of the Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), which has been validated in the Chinese population [ 32 ]. It is a 10-item scale comprising three dimensions, i.e., objective support, subjective support, and utilization of support [ 24 ]. Questions related to objective support are as follows: “What is your living status in the last year?” (Q2), “What are the sources of financial support and solving problems when you are in an emergency?” (Q6), and “What are the sources of taking comfort and receiving concern when you are in an emergency?” (Q7).…”

“…For each subitem, the response “none” scores 1 point, “rare” 2, “general” 3, and “full support” 4. For Q6 and Q7, the answer “no source” scores zero points; otherwise, each source listed scores 1 point [ 24 ]. The total scores of SSRS are the sum of the scores of the three subscales.…”