Table 1. Sociodemographic characteristics of practice assistants (n = 550) and strain due to chronic stress (measured by the standardized and validated TICS tool): Items and sum scores.
| Participants (N = 550) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Continuous variables | Mean | SD | Range | |
| Age | 38 | 12.61 | 16–71 | |
| Persons in household more age 18 | 2 | 1.12 | 0–6 | |
| Persons in household below age 18 | 1 | 0.84 | 0–6 | |
| Number of physicians in practice | 3 | 2.16 | 1–10 | |
| Number of practice assistants in practice | 8 | 7.66 | 0–35 | |
| Categorical variables | n | % | ||
| Female gender | 544 | 99.3 | ||
| Marital status | ||||
| Married | 277 | 50.4 | ||
| Single | 221 | 40.2 | ||
| Divorced | 45 | 8.2 | ||
| Widowed | 7 | 1.3 | ||
| Number of persons in household | 72 | 13.1 | ||
| Cares for next of kin | 75 | 13.6 | ||
| Working hours/week | ||||
| 1–9 hours | 12 | 2.2 | ||
| 10–19 hours | 52 | 9.5 | ||
| 20–29 hours | 116 | 21.1 | ||
| 30–39 hours | 221 | 40.2 | ||
| 40–49 hours | 116 | 21.1 | ||
| 50–59 hours | 12 | 2.2 | ||
| >60 hours | 10 | 1.8 | ||
| Working full time | 364 | 66.2 | ||
| Has open-ended employment contract | 466 | 84.7 | ||
| Had participated in stress seminar in the past | 31 | 5.6 | ||
| Had used counseling for stress reduction | 50 | 9.1 | ||
| High strain due to chronic stress (TICS ≥ 23) | 125 | 22.7 | ||