Comparison of sources and expressions of stress among hospital and primary health care physicians

Abstract

BackgroundWork stress is an important problem that affects physicians. Sources and expressions of stress among hospital physicians (HP) and primary health care (PHC) physicians (PHCP) differ due to the nature of clinical work duties. ObjectiveWas to compare sources and expressions of stress among HP and PHCP. Subjects and MethodsData were collected from 247 HP working in a general hospital and 250 working in PHC centers in Kuwait using the Quick Stress Questionnaire (QSQ), in addition to sociodemographic and work characteristics of physicians. ResultsBoth HP and PHCP suffered from only few sources of stress. Also they had relatively low mean percent scores for the three studied domains of stress. HP tended to significantly suffer from more sources of stress than PHCP (2.33+1.88 compared with 1.91+1.956, P=0.003). Significantly higher proportions of HP suffered from work, financial, family, and social/personal relationship concerns than PHCP. Self-image and sex concerns were more likely encountered among PHCP than HP. The overall mean percent score of stress expression did not differ significantly between the two groups (25.7+16.9% compared with 25.1+18.9%). However, few somatic expressions were more significantly expressed among PHCP. ConclusionHP were significantly more exposed to sources of stress than PHCP. Overall, both groups had similar level of stress expressions with some differences in the somatic expressions domain.