[Profile of the resident physician attended by the Group of Psychological Assistance for Students at the São Paulo University School of Medicine].

Objectives: To define the profile of medical residents assisted by a mental health care service, aiming to contribute to the understanding of this group's needs.

Methods: Observational study, retrospective cohort design. Data were collected from the medical records of a series of residents assisted by the group of psychological care for students of the Sao Paulo University School of Medicine , during the period 1998-2002; and from the institution's general register of residents. Proportions of residents assisted according to time, year of residency, gender , age, specialty, graduation school and distance from family home are described and differences between proportions of these variables categories are analyzed.

Results: The total of residents included was 2,131 with a follow-up time of 4,727 resident-years. Among them, computing first episode of care only, there were 104 residents assisted (4.9% residents assisted, or 2.2 residents assisted per 100 resident-years of follow-up). Their most frequent characteristics were: first year of residency (4.5%), age under 26 years (6.1%), female (6.9%), graduates from other schools (5.9%), and residents of cognitive specialties (6.7%). Psychiatric assistance in this sample shows an association with gender and factors related to a crisis of adaptation. The proportion of residents assisted has not increased during the period analyzed.