Psychological stress, anxiety, depression, job satisfaction, and personality characteristics in preregistration house officers
D Newbury-Birch, F Kamali
Wolfson Unit of
Clinical Pharmacology, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne
NE2 4HH, UK
Correspondence to: Dr Kamali farhad.kamali{at}ncl.ac.uk
Submitted 5 November
1999;
Accepted 22 June 2000
Work related stress and anxiety may have a profound effect on
an individual's wellbeing. In the case of doctors this may also affect
patient care. This study measured stress, anxiety, and job satisfaction
and the influence of personality factors on these in a group of
preregistration house officers in the north east of England. A total of
109 preregistration house officers anonymously completed a lifestyles
questionnaire designed to measure self rated psychological stress,
state anxiety, job satisfaction, and personality characteristics.
Results showed that 37.5% of women and 24% of men preregistration
house officers suffered from possible psychological stress. Altogether
38.9% of women and 5.4% of men were suffering from possible anxiety
and 8.3% of women and 2.7% of men were suffering from possible
depression. The mean (SD) job satisfaction scores were 83.8(17.4)
(range 52-127; median 86.5) for men and 80.5(16.7) (range 41-114;
median 81) for women. Altogether 30.6% of men and 41.7% of women
reported to be dissatisfied with the organisational processes in their
job. There were significant negative correlations between stress and
job satisfaction scores (r = 
0.508;
p<0.0001) and between anxiety and job satisfaction scores
(r = 0.421; p<0.0001), and significant
positive associations between anxiety and stress scores
(r = 0.593; p<0.0001). Stress, anxiety, and
depression scores were significantly correlated with neuroticism scores
in both men and women. The personality characteristic of neuroticism
was a predisposing factor for stress and anxiety in the junior doctors
which may be taken into consideration when offering support and counselling.
Keywords: junior doctors; stress and anxiety; job satisfaction; personality
© 2001 by The Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine
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