Perceived sources of occupational stress in general dental practitioners

To evaluate levels of occupational stress in general dental practitioners (GDPs) and compare them with those reported by Cooper et al. (1987).

Postal questionnaire in England and Wales.

A sample of 1007 GDPs was chosen from the Dental Register.

30 separate stressors were scored on a 5-point scale. Summated scores within time-, job-, income-, staff- and patient-related categories were submitted to analysis of variance by sex, type of practice, years since qualification and geographic location.

823 questionnaires were returned (82%) of which 667 were from practising GDPs (63% male, 26% female, 1% undetermined) working full- (87%) or part- (13%) time in NHS (61%), private (8%), mixed (26%), or community (5%) practice. In general, problems associated with time management were the most stressful. The highest ranked individual stressors were 'running behind schedule' (percentage responding with scores 4 or 5 = 61.9, 95% confidence intervals = 58.2-65.6), followed by 'coping with difficult or uncooperative patients' (58.2, 54.5-61.9) and the 'working constraints set by the NHS' (57.5, 53.8-61.2). Differences in levels of reported stress (P < 0.05) were observed for at least one group category of stressor between practitioners with different types of practice, between males and females, by geographical area (north against south) and by the length of time since qualification.

The results indicate that GDPs now rank factors related to time management as major job stressors, with an apparently dramatic elevation of 'NHS working constraints' to a top-ranking stressor since 1986.