Sources of resistance to an intern support group.

When senior house officers were observed to be resistant to an intern support group, they were surveyed in order to identify the sources of their resistance. Sixty-nine percent of house officers in postgraduate year two (PGY-2) and PGY-3 responded to an anonymous seven-item survey. Although their attitudes toward supportive programs were generally favorable, a minority of the house officers felt that residents expressing the need for support were less competent than other residents or needed to change to a less rigorous specialty. A majority felt that it was unfair to require senior house officers to provide coverage for interns attending a support group. They felt that support should be made available to all house officers rather than interns only and that stress would be reduced by eliminating the sources of stress as well as by providing supportive programs. Training program directors need to be aware of and anticipate these attitudes before designing supportive programs.