title: Strategies used to handle stress by academic physicians at a university hospital.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Research is limited regarding occupational stress and coping strategies among academic physicians; professionals whose work situation includes the three areas of clinical practice, research, and teaching. The aim was to gain knowledge of stress-coping strategies used by academic physicians.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventeen academic physicians employed at the University Hospital, Linköping, Sweden.
  
  
  METHODS
  Qualitative analyses were conducted of data from five focus-group interviews.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified eight different categories of coping strategies, e.g. self-awareness, time management, to cut corners, and to be in control. We also attempted to fit the dimensions of coping strategies into the models proposed by Folkman and Lazarus and Beehr and McGrath, respectively. The strategies were predominantly used to prevent stress from occurring, to manage anticipated stress, or to handle stress when occurring. Furthermore, the majority of the strategies identified could be placed in the problem-focused category, which we divided in a behavioural and a cognitive sub-category and in a new cognitive problem-focused and emotion-focused category.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study contributes to a wider understanding of the stress coping strategies academic physicians use. Further studies are needed to determine the consequences of these findings in order to enable the design of measures to reduce and prevent stress among academic physicians.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Division of Insurance Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lindfors
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Boman
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Alexanderson
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D017748:Time Management; D016526:Workload