Abstract
BACKGROUND: Although research has been carried out on stress in general practitioners, little is known about the stresses experienced by their spouses. AIM: This study was undertaken to identify specific pressures at work and at home experienced by general practitioners and their spouses and to highlight their coping strategies. METHOD: In-depth interviews were conducted with 25 general practitioners and their spouses in the north-west of England. RESULTS: The doctors' increased workload and decreased interest in their family are important stressors for the entire family unit. Other stressors include time pressure, out-of-hours on-call, lack of support and amount of paperwork. General practitioners work late in the surgery, bring work home and spend time away from home at meetings. Family life is constantly interrupted by telephone calls. Role conflict was one of the major sources of stress for women general practitioners. Doctors' wives expressed concern regarding their husbands' excessive commitment to work and problems with communication. CONCLUSION: Recent changes to contractual working conditions have caused general practitioners to focus their energies on their practice instead of paying attention to the needs of their family. Male general practitioners leave the bulk of responsibility for running the family and household to their wives, but women general practitioners appear to maintain domestic responsibility while spending as much time in medical practice as their male colleagues. This is only an exploratory study based on a small sample, and so the findings cannot be generalized; however, it provides in-depth information on stress among general practitioners and their spouses.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Cooper C. L., Rout U., Faragher B. Mental health, job satisfaction, and job stress among general practitioners. BMJ. 1989 Feb 11;298(6670):366–370. doi: 10.1136/bmj.298.6670.366. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gabbard G. O., Menninger R. W., Coyne L. Sources of conflict in the medical marriage. Am J Psychiatry. 1987 May;144(5):567–572. doi: 10.1176/ajp.144.5.567. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Garvey M., Tuason V. B. Physician marriages. J Clin Psychiatry. 1979 Mar;40(3):129–131. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gray J. P. The doctor's family: some problems and solutions. J R Coll Gen Pract. 1982 Feb;32(235):75–79. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Heins M., Smock S., Martindale L., Jacobs J., Stein M. Comparison of the productivity of women and men physicians. JAMA. 1977 Jun 6;237(23):2514–2517. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Howie J. G., Porter A. M., Forbes J. F. Quality and the use of time in general practice: widening the discussion. BMJ. 1989 Apr 15;298(6679):1008–1010. doi: 10.1136/bmj.298.6679.1008. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Myerson S. The doctor's health. Under stress? Practitioner. 1990 Nov;234(1496):973–976. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Nelson S. B. Some dynamics of medical marriages. J R Coll Gen Pract. 1978 Oct;28(195):585–586. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Porter A. M., Howie J. G., Levinson A. Measurement of stress as it affects the work of the general practitioner. Fam Pract. 1985 Sep;2(3):136–146. doi: 10.1093/fampra/2.3.136. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Rout U., Rout J. K. Job satisfaction, mental health and job stress among general practitioners before and after the new contract--a comparative study. Fam Pract. 1994 Sep;11(3):300–306. doi: 10.1093/fampra/11.3.300. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sakinofsky I. Suicide in doctors and their wives. Br Med J. 1980 Aug 2;281(6236):386–387. doi: 10.1136/bmj.281.6236.386. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Vaillant G. E., Sobowale N. C., McArthur C. Some psychologic vulnerabilities of physicians. N Engl J Med. 1972 Aug 24;287(8):372–375. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197208242870802. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]