LAUSR

OBJECTIVE to evaluate the perception of quality of life among residents in the first year of Medical Residency compared to the one among residents in other years of training, given the importance of this issue in health. METHODS a comparative and cross-sectional analytical study performed from February to April 2016 in a reference tertiary trauma hospital in Brazil. Resident physicians were voluntarily submitted to an online questionnaire on quality of life (called WHOQOL-BREF), validated by World Health Organization (WHO). They were divided into two groups: first year of residency (R1) and other years of residency. RESULTS ninety-seven residents of several medical specialties answered the questionnaire. Of these, 59 were men and 38 were women. The mean age was 27.7 years. First-year residents accounted for 49.5% of the interviewees. Overall, quality of life was considered regular in both groups. In relation to psychological domain, there was a significant difference between the R1 group (with worse scores in this domain) and the non-R1 group (p<0.0000001). CONCLUSION first-year residents' quality of life is worse than the one of the residents from other years, having a significant variation of positive feelings, learning capacity, memory, thought and concentration, self-esteem, body image and appearance, and negative feelings.