Sources and expressions of stress among physicians in a general hospital

Available online 17 March 2012

Peer review under responsibility of Alexandria University Faculty of Medicine.

Figures & data

Table 1 Sociodemographic characteristics of participant physicians.

Character	Number (247)	%
Age (years)
<40	120	48.6
⩾40	127	51.4
Gender
Male	195	78.9
Female	52	21.1
Nationality
Kuwaiti	39	15.8
Non-Kuwaiti	208	84.2
Marital status
Single	38	15.4
Married	209	84.6
Educational qualification
Bachelor/master	204	82.6
Board	43	17.4
Specialty
Surgical	126	51.0
Medicine	121	49.0
Duration at current job (years)
<10	181	73.3
⩾10	66	26.7
Total experience duration (years)
<15	137	55.5
⩾15	110	44.5

Table 2 Sources and expression of stress among hospital physicians.

Sources and expression of stress	No.	%
Sources of stress
Academic/work concerns	138	55.9
Social/personal relationship	79	32.0
Family	113	45.7
Financial	126	51.0
Self image	28	11.3
Health	42	17.0
Sex	10	4.2
Day to day quarrel	41	16.6
Cognitive expression
Feelings of depression, hopelessness, powerlessness, and/or poor self-esteem	31	12.6
Anger, hostility, irritability, and dissatisfaction	39	15.8
Anxiety, fears, and worrying	64	25.9
Mean percent score (median)	31.4 ± 22.5
	(29.2)
Somatic expression
Muscle tension, headache, backaches, and muscle aches	49	19.8
Indigestion, stomach ache, diarrhea, ulcer attacks, constipation, and colitis	29	11.7
Tics, tremors, and muscle spasms	10	4.0
Sleeping, night awakening, and troublesome dreams	68	27.5
Eating disorders, over eating, and under eating	31	12.6
Hypertension	35	14.2
Acne, eczema, hives, breaking out, and skin blotching and skin blanching	9	3.6
Mean percent score (median)	23.7 ± 17.7
	(21.4)
Behavioral expression
Excessive drinking and/or use of drugs (including nicotine and caffeine)	35	14.2
Forgetfulness, mental insufficiency, inability to study, and lack of motivation	44	17.8
Avoidance behavior (procrastination, escape, TV watching, excessive partying, absenteeism	20	8.1
Mean percent score (median)	24.6 ± 20.4
	(20.8)
Total expression mean percent score (median)	25.7 ± 16.9
	(24.0)

Table 3 Relation among sociodemographic characteristics and sources and expressions of stress among hospital physicians, mean ± standard deviation (median) are presented.

Character	Sources	Stress expression
		Cognitive	Somatic	Behavioral	Total
Age (years)
<40	2.7 ± 1.8(3.0)	34.4 ± 23.0(33.3)	24.7 ± 17.9(21.4)	28.9 ± 20.8(29.2)	27.9 ± 17.3(25.9)
⩾40	2.0 ± 1.9(2.0)	28.7 ± 21.8(25.0)	22.9 ± 17.5(21.4)	20.5 ± 19.2(12.5)	23.7 ± 16.5(22.1)
P	0.004^*	0.053	0.430	0.001^*	0.060
Gender (P)
Male	2.3 ± 1.8(2.0)	30.5 ± 21.9(29.2)	23.1 ± 17.6(19.6)	25.3 ± 20.4(20.8)	25.3 ± 16.7(24.0)
Female	2.3 ± 2.1(2.0)	35.1 ± 24.6(37.5)	26.2 ± 18.3(25.9)	22.1 ± 20.2(20.8)	27.3 ± 17.9(26.4)
P	0.794	0.275	0.255	0.252	0.448
Nationality
Kuwaiti	1.9 ± 1.9(1.0)	31.2 ± 25.1(29.2)	20.9 ± 17.9(16.1)	22.1 ± 19.8(16.7)	23.6 ± 17.5(18.3)
Non Kuwaiti	2.4 ± 1.9(2.0)	31.5 ± 22.1(29.2)	24.3 ± 17.7(21.4)	25.1 ± 20.5(25.0)	26.1 ± 16.9(25.0)
P	0.215	0.232	0.962	0.399	0.534
Marital status
Single	2.8 ± 2.1 (3.0)	35.3 ± 22.7 (37.5)	24.2 ± 19.1 (20.5)	27.1 ± 20.9 (25.0)	27.4 ± 17.4 (27.4)
Married	2.3 ± 1.8 (2.0)	30.8 ± 22.5 (25.0)	23.7 ± 17.5 (21.4)	24.2 ± 20.3 (20.8)	25.4 ± 16.9 (24.0)
P	0.063	0.712	0.223	0.397	0.292
Ed. qualification
Bachelor/master	2.5 ± 1.9 (2.0)	32.3 ± 22.2 (29.2)	24.6 ± 17.9 (23.2)	26.1 ± 20.3 (25.0)	26.7 ± 17.0 (25.9)
Board	1.6 ± 1.7 (1.0)	27.5 ± 24.2 (25.0)	19.7 ± 16.2 (16.1)	17.4 ± 19.4 (12.5)	20.9 ± 16.3 (18.3)
P	0.003^*	0.099	0.098	0.006^*	0.023^*
Specialty
Surgical	2.3 ± 2.0 (2.0)	29.7 ± 21.0 (25.0)	24.7 ± 18.2 (23.2)	23.2 ± 19.9 (16.7)	25.5 ± 16.9 (24.0)
Medicine	2.3 ± 1.7 (2.0)	33.4 ± 23.9 (29.2)	22.7 ± 17.2 (19.6)	26.1 ± 20.7 (25.0)	25.9 ± 17.1 (24.0)
P	0.680	0.283	0.392	0.331	0.947
Job (years)
<10	2.5 ± 1.9 (2.0)	33.4 ± 23.4 (33.3)	23.9 ± 17.6 (21.4)	26.4 ± 21.1 (25.0)	26.7 ± 17.4 (25.0)
⩾10	1.9 ± 1.7 (2.0)	26.1 ± 19.4 (25.0)	23.1 ± 18.2 (20.5)	19.7 ± 17.5 (14.6)	22.9 ± 15.8 (21.2)
P	0.068	0.036^*	0.643	0.042^*	0.189
Experience (years)
<15	2.6 ± 1.8 (2.0)	34.5 ± 22.9 (33.3)	25.1 ± 17.5 (23.2)	28.5 ± 20.4 (29.2)	28.1 ± 16.9 (26.9)
⩾15	2.0 ± 1.9 (1.5)	27.7 ± 21.6 (25.0)	22.1 ± 17.9 (17.9)	19.8 ± 19.4 (12.5)	22.8 ± 16.8 (21.2)
P	0.005^*	0.017^*	0.136	0.001^*	0.012^*

* Significant (P value of Mann Whitney test).