Association between social skills and mental health outcomes in Health Science Residents in Brazil.

Emotional distress was highly prevalent among Brazilian health science residents.

• 86.3% of residents reported emotional distress as measured by the Resident Questionnaire (RQ).
• The cross-sectional study sample consisted of 51 participants from medical, multidisciplinary, and veterinary residency programs.
• The study was conducted via voluntary online survey across different Brazilian institutions.

Anxiety and depression were prevalent among more than half of the resident participants.

• 58.8% of residents screened positive for anxiety as measured by the General Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7).
• 56.9% of residents screened positive for depression as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9).
• The sample included residents from three types of programs: medical, multidisciplinary, and veterinary.

Residents demonstrated a generally satisfactory overall repertoire of social skills.

• Overall social skills repertoire scored 60.78% as measured by the Multidimensional Scale of Social Expression (MSSE-M).
• The 'Start and keeping conversations' and 'Express positive affect' subscales scored highest across all programs.
• Social skills were assessed across multiple subscales including 'ability to defend rights' and overall repertoire.

The 'ability to defend rights' social skills subscale was significantly associated with reduced emotional distress.

• The 'ability to defend rights' subscale was significantly associated with a reduction in emotional distress (coefficient: -0.58).
• Multivariable mixed-effects linear regression models were used to address each mental health outcome separately.
• Social skill scores were used as the primary explanatory variables in the models.

A broader overall social skills repertoire was significantly associated with reductions in both anxiety and depression.

• Greater overall social skills repertoire was significantly associated with a reduction in anxiety (coefficient: -3.14).
• Greater overall social skills repertoire was significantly associated with a reduction in depression (coefficient: -3.92).
• These associations were identified using multivariable mixed-effects linear regression models.

Greater satisfaction with the learning environment was significantly associated with lower mental health symptom levels.

• Learning environment satisfaction was associated with lower levels across all three mental health outcomes: emotional distress, anxiety, and depression.
• This association was examined within multivariable mixed-effects linear regression models alongside social skills scores.
• The finding applied across residents in medical, multidisciplinary, and veterinary residency programs.