MODELS OF JOB-RELATED STRESS AND PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENT AMONG CONSULTANT DOCTORS

The antecedents and outcomes of feelings of job-related stress and per sonal achievement were studied in a large sample of consultant doctors working in Scotland. In a sample of 333 doctors it was found that a t endency to use emotion-oriented coping strategies and negative apprais als of organizational changes in the practice of medicine mediated the effect of the personality dimension of Neuroticism on reported job st ress. Job stress levels predicted the degree of 'burnout' experienced by doctors, i.e, their tendencies to be emotionally exhausted by their work and to dehumanize patients. Higher clinical workloads were relat ed to higher levels of stress but also to higher feelings of personal achievement. A substantial proportion of the variance in many of the v ariables in the stress model was accounted for by a general tendency t o experience negative emotions, closely related to Neuroticism; this g eneral factor appeared to be similar to the recently formulated concep ts of 'negative affectivity' and 'somatopsychic distress'. The persona lity factors of Extraversion and Conscientiousness both contributed to positive feelings of personal achievement (N = 344); the effect of Ex traversion was direct, whereas the effect of Conscientiousness was med iated by a tendency to use task-oriented coping strategies. Models of the processes of stress and personal achievement were tested for accep tability using the EQS Structural Equations Program. The implications of the models for transactional theories of stress are discussed.