title: Minor psychiatric disorder in NHS trust staff: occupational and gender differences.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is widely suggested that many National Health Service (NHS) workers experience high levels of minor psychiatric disorder. However, inadequacies of sampling and measurement in studies to date have not allowed this suggestion to be properly evaluated.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study was designed to overcome these methodological weaknesses by using a sample of over 11,000 employees from 19 NHS trusts and a well-established measure of minor psychiatric disorder for which there are comparative data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The findings show that 26.8% of the health service workers reported significant levels of minor psychiatric disorder, compared with 17.8% of people in the general population. Psychiatric morbidity was highest among managers, doctors, nurses and professions allied to medicine, with each of these groups recording higher rates than their professional counterparts outside the health service. It was lower among those in support occupations, such as administrative and ancillary staff. A feature of the findings was that female doctors and managers showed a much higher prevalence of minor psychiatric disorder than their male colleagues.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Studies are required to establish the organisational, occupational and individual determinants of minor psychiatric disorder among NHS employees.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Work Psychology, University of Sheffield.
authors.forename: T D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Wall
authors.forename: R I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Bolden
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Borrill
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Carter
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Golya
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Hardy
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Haynes
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Rick
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Shapiro
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: West
mesh_terms: D000288:Administrative Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008503:Medical Staff / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology