Effort-Reward Imbalance among otolaryngology residents in Germany

Introduction An increased psychosocial workload can have an negative impact on health. An effective way to record this is the effort reward imbalance model postulated by Siegrist. Values on this topic from ENT residents are missing, which is why the concept and corresponding questions were included in the survey on the current situation in further education. Material and methods An online survey on the current situation of the ENT residency including the recording of psychosocial workload was developed by ENT physicians on the basis of a well-known questionnaire of colleagues of the Alli- ance of Young Physicians. The short version of the validated questionnaire on the effort reward imbalance model according to Siegrist with 16 items was used. An online survey was carried out addressing all ENT residents in Germany known to the German society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck surgery. The survey was sent by e-mail and was available from April 1st to July 31st in 2019. Results 92,3 % of the participants had an effort- reward imbalance. The mean value of effort reward imbalance was 1.57 +/- 0.43, adjusted 2.16 +/- 1.36. The effort scale was 10.71 +/- 1.40 (3- 12), adjusted 85.72 +/- 15.52, reward scale 16.58 +/- 2.86 (7-28), adjusted 45.61 +/- 13.63, over commitment 17 +/- 3.37, adjusted 61.14 +/- 18.73. A high effort reward imbalance had positive significant correlations with regard to the duration of residency, the number of working hours per week and the number of duty hours per month. Conclusion The effort and reward imbalance is comparable to other specialty physicians in residency. It is related to working hours, services and the progress of training. It can be improved through personal initiative and could be supplemented with the support of the hospital's internal stakeholders.