Short communication: Occupational stress and burnout among South African medical practitioners

Abstract

AbstractThe aim of this study was to identify job stress and burnout symptoms among randomly selected South African medical practitioners from a national survey. The sample included 402 doctors, 59.5 per cent male and 40.5 per cent female. The majority were Whites (59.3 per cent), followed by African Black (21.3 per cent), and Asians (14 per cent). Results showed that the overall job stress index indicated with 4.9, high job stress levels among the doctors. High severity job stress ratings included (1) fellow workers not doing their job, (2) inadequate salary and (3) covering work for another employee and high frequency of job stress, (4) working overtime, making critical on‐the‐spot decisions and dealing with crisis situations. Female doctors felt significantly more lack of support on job stress severity than male doctors. High levels of burnout (emotional exhaustion and depersonalization) were found among doctors. Job stress predicted emotional exhaustion and depersonalization but not personal accomplishment. Emotional exhaustion was associated with female doctors and personal accomplishment was significantly related to male doctors. White doctors reported more job stress and also burnout symptoms than doctors with colour. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.