Stress among medical doctors working in public hospitals of the Ngaka Molema District (Mafikeng Health Region), North West Province

Abstract

There is growing concern about stress among public hospital doctors. Studies about stress in South Africa are lacking. The aim of our study was to ascertain the prevalence and level of stress among NMM district doctors; establish relationship if any, between stress and working condition, and compare the results with findings of a study done among general practitioners in a private practice. Methods A cross-sectional study using a standardized questionnaire was carried out among medical doctors working in 4 hospitals of the Ngaka Modiri Molema (NMM) district, North West Province, from 5th March 2010 to 21st April 2010. The 12-item GHQ was used to measure the prevalence and the level of stress. The data were analyzed using statistical software SPSS 17.0. A variety of statitistical analyses were applied to the data, including cross-tabulation, analysis of variance (ANOVA). Duncan’s post hoc was applied to establish relationship between stress and working conditions. Results Of the 67 participants in the study, 89.6% claimed feeling stressed, while 50.7% were found to be objectively stressed. The result also revealed that 26.8% of the participants were highly stressed (morbidly). Despite the evidence of heavy workload among doctors in NMM district, no significant association was found between levels of stress and working conditions. x Conclusion: The prevalence and level of stress among medical doctors working in NMM district are very high and they are much higher than the prevalence and level of stress found amongst General Practitionners in Kwa-Du kuza. Doctors were all stressed irrespective of their gender, number of patients seen per day and hours worked per week.