Psychometric evaluation of Romanian version of Job Content Questionnaire in physicians

With the development of modern civilization and with continuous changing of job characteristics, occupational stress becomes increasingly important. Physicians are an exposed category and they are prone to develop stress-related disease and risk behaviors.

We conduct a study among 118 physicians. The Romanian version of Job Content Questionnaire was mailed to all the subjects. We investigate the main scales of JCQ: decision latitude (DL), psychological job demands (PJD) and social support (SoS), along with the prevalence of risk behaviors, depression and sleeping problems.

The final response rate was 112 (94.9%). The differences between women and men are significant for psychological demands (36.55 versus 32.9, P < 0.01), decision latitude (73.83 versus 67.05) and skill discretion (36.47 versus 34.6). Age positively correlated with SD (r = 0.40), DA (r = 0.40) and PJD (r = 0.29) in women and negatively with CoS (r = -0.39) in men. PJD negatively correlated with SS (r = -0.5) and CoS (r = -0.28) in women and with CoS (r = -0.54) in men. Smoking (32% women and 56% men) and sedentary behavior (over 60% women and men) positively correlated with PJD and negatively with social support in both men and women.

The issue of professional stress is very important in modern medicine. Age and gender can be determinants of job strain, but also of job characteristics. Many studies have shown positive relations between job strain, and some harmful habits such as tobacco smoking and sedentary lifestyle; we have to outline again the importance of organizational factors in managing both stress and satisfaction at workplace.