Old age psychiatrists: what do they find stressful?
OBJECTIVE
To examine the main sources of stress for practising old age psychiatrists.


METHODS
Postal survey.


METHODS
Old age psychiatry services in England and Wales.


METHODS
Old age psychiatrists on the list held by the Section of Old Age Psychiatry, Royal College of Psychiatrists.


METHODS
Number and nature of stresses identified by respondents.


RESULTS
One hundred and thirty-eight old age psychiatrists identified a mean of 5.1 stresses per respondent, which fell into seven broad categories: changes within the health service, community care changes, personal, management-related, resource-related, related to time pressures, overwork and others.


CONCLUSIONS
Unavoidable stresses were rarely listed. Most were related to work overload and organizational structure and climate. More research is needed on stress in other areas of psychiatry, ways to minimize/prevent stress and how to optimize the balance between work and home life.
Benbow
S M
SM
Central Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust, UK.
Jolley
D
D
D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004739:England; D005852:Geriatric Psychiatry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000145:classification / Q000209:etiology*; D014852:Wales