Work stress management for women general practitioners: An evaluation

Abstract

Recognition of increasing levels of work stress in medical professionals has recently stimulated efforts at stress management which, however remain at an exploratory stage. As the sources of work stress in general practice are gender-related, the intervention described in this paper was offered to women only. A series of three three-hour seminars was held for women GPs who had expressed interest in learning about management of their own work stresses. The 20 participants were representative of women GPs in Australia, being young (average age 39.6) and many working part-time; most had a husband and children living with them. Participants completed intake measures of psychological distress, job satisfaction and burnout, and standardized evaluative ratings after each session, and they provided follow-up information at four weeks after the completion of the seminars. Significant reduction of both psychological distress and emotional exhaustion was achieved, a sufficiently promising result to encourage further research.