Types of Work Stress and Implications for the Role of General Practitioners

Abstract

This study investigated a wide range of job-related characteristics which had the potential of acting as stressors for General Practitioners (GPs). Three hundred and four GPs completed a detailed questionnaire which sought audit information including practice workload factors, coping approaches and attitudinal information including sources of stress and the value of management training. Ten independent factors were identified as underpinning GP stress and using multi-variate analysis, it was shown that each of these factors is predicted by a separate and distinct set of variables. This finding suggests that it is inappropriate to simply talk about GP stress since it is a multi-dimensional concept. This finding has important implications for identifying potentially successful mechanisms of coping and support.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Briner

R. B.

(1994). ‘Stress as a Trivial Concept and Modern Myth: Some Alternative Approaches to Stress Phenomena’. Paper presented at the Annual BPS Conference, Brighton, March 1994.

Caplan

R. D.

Cobb

French

J. R. P.

(1975). ‘Job Demands and Workers Health’. Washington DC – US Government Printing Office, US Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

Howell

J. B.

Schroeder

D. P.

(1984) ‘Physician Stress. A Handbook for Coping.’, University Park Press: Baltimore.

Iliffe

Haug

(1991). ‘Out of hours calls in general practice.’ British Medical Journal, (302): 1584–1586.

Kahn

R. L.

(1964). ‘Role Stress: Studies in Role Conflict and Ambiguity’, New York: Wiley.

King

(1990). ‘Role conflict and role ambiguity: A critical assessment of construct validity.’. Psychological Bulletin, 107:48–64.

Landsbergis

P. A.

(1988). ‘Occupational stress among health care workers: A test of the job demands – control model.’. Journal of Organisational Behaviour, 9:217–239.

McGrath

J. E.

(1976). ‘Stress and Behaviour in Organisations'.” In: Dunnette

M. D.

ed. Handbook of Industrial and Organisational Psychology., New York: John Wiley.

Myerson

(1993). ‘The effects of policy change on family doctors: Stress in general practice under the new contract.’ Journal of Management in Medicine, 7(2): 7–26.

10.

Newton

T. J.

(1989). ‘Occupational stress and coping with stress: A critique.’ Human Relations, 42(5): 441–461.

11.

Selye

(1976). ‘The Stress of Life'., New York: McGraw Hill.

12.

Sutherland

V. J.

Cooper

C. L.

(1992). ‘Job stress, satisfaction and mental health among general practitioners before and after introduction of the new contract.’ British Medical Journal, (304): 1545–1548.

13.

Walton

(1989). ‘Illness in doctors and their families’. Health and Hygiene, 10:51–62.