Prevalence and severity of stressand its associated factors amongjunior doctors

Aims: To assess the prevalence and severity ofstress amongjunior doctors (interns) as well as determine the factors associated with increased stress. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we administered the10-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale,a measure of stress,to 380 interns from 11 different hospitals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. We also asked them to answer questions regarding their gender, marital status, clinical rotation, the hospital in which they were completing their currentrotation, satisfaction with their work environment, presence of personal issues unrelated to the hospital,and whether they had sat for the Saudi MedicalLicensing Exam in the month prior to theircompletion of the questionnaire. Results: Two hundred forty-seven interns completed the questionnaire, the majority of whom (95%) expressed some degree of stress. Most of theinterns experiencing stresshad severe levels(75%), followed by moderate (13%) and mild levels (7%). The proportion of male interns who were stressed (97.9%) wasgreater than the proportion of female interns(91.3%) (p< 0.001), and a greater proportion ofsingle internsthan married internswere stressed (95.1% vs. 95.3%), respectively (p =0.004). Factors such ashaving sitfor the licensing exam and having family or personal issues wereassociated with greaterstress (p = 0.006 and p=0.001, respectively). Interestingly, we observed no significant relationsof stress with clinical rotations, the hospitals in which their currentrotation was taking place, or satisfaction with work (p= 0.364,0.236, and 0.421, respectively). Conclusion The prevalence of stress among interns is very high. Further studies are necessarytodetermine the precise causes of such stress in order todevelop suitable solutions.