A comparative study on occupational stress, job satisfaction and mental health in British general practitioners and Canadian family physicians

Abstract

This paper attempts to compare job stress, job satisfaction and mental health of general practitioners (GPs) in England (n = 380) and family physicians in Toronto, Canada (n = 131) from a questionnaire study. British GPs experienced less job satisfaction, poorer mental health and significantly greater pressure at work than did their Canadian counterparts. British male GPs were more depressed and had higher levels of somatic anxiety than the Canadian doctors. It was also found that alcohol consumption by British GPs was higher in comparison with Canadian doctors. This finding suggests that specific stress management programmes for doctors need to be initiated and evaluated. The results should be interpreted with caution as the study is based on a small sample of Canadian doctors limited to the Toronto area only, which limits the generalizability of the findings. However, it does provide information which has important implications for the well-being of doctors.