Psychological stress among hospital doctors caring for HIV patients in the late nineties

To assess stress and satisfaction related to HIV medical work and its impact on psychological wellbeing, a cross-sectional study was undertaken among the population of doctors caring for HIV/AIDS patients in French hospitals. They were sent a questionnaire on demographic and professional characteristics along with three additional scales: the Consultants Mental Health Questionnaire with three components - stress, satisfaction and responses to job stress; the Maslach Burnout Inventory; and the GHQ-12 (General Health Questionnaire). A total of 670 physicians responded anonymously (65.4% participation). For 45% of respondents, HIV/AIDS represented less than 25% of their activity. Three dimensions were extracted by multivariate analysis from the stress scale (overload, social relationships at work, patients/family distress) and four dimensions from the satisfaction scale (work content, patients/family, peer recognition, work environment). Length of time working in HIV/AIDS, and proportion of clinical work in HIV/AIDS were not related to either stress or satisfaction. Only participation in NGOs increased the level of stress. Stress was not related to time spent in clinical work, neither to HIV work. Satisfaction derived from work decreases with time in direct contact with patients and is mainly related to the position in hospital. Eleven per cent sought help from professionals for psychological problems. Stress derived from patients suffering was not related to any psychological outcomes. Work overload and stress derived from social relationships at work are the main predictors of psychological distress, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, while the moderator effect of satisfaction is weak. In the late nineties, the amount of HIV work did not appear as a specific feature of hospital medical work.