Types of work stress and implications for the role of general practitioners

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.