Abstract
Background: Internship is a long journey to explore many specialties. No study has been performed in Saudi Arabia to determine the health-related quality of life (HQQOL) of medical interns.
Objectives: to assess the HQQOL of medicals interns in KSA and the relation between HRQOL and participants' characteristics.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was done on 150 medical interns and the WHO quality of life questionnaire based on a brief version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument as the study tool. It contains 24 items of satisfaction that are divided into four domains: Physical health, psychological health, social relationships and environmental health.
Results: 39.3% and 24.7% of the participants were satisfied and very satisfied with their health respectively. Females had a significantly higher score of Domain 1 (Physical health) compared to males, while married participants had a significantly higher score of Domain 2 (Psychological health). Single participants had a significantly higher score of Domain 4 (Environmental health) and a non-significant relationship was found between domain 4 and domain 3 and other participants' characters. A significant negative correlation was found between overall WHOQOL-BREF instrument scores, Domain 2, Domain 3 and Domain 4 and participants' age. Females and married participants had a significantly higher score of satisfaction with their health.
Conclusion: As the lowest scores in this study were for the Domain of social relationships and environmental health, there is a need to provide support of medical interns to cope with factors influencing their QOL through more assessment and training sessions performed by specialists.