Work characteristics and psychological symptoms among GPs and community nurses: a preliminary investigation in China

Abstract

Objective: To determine the effect of work characteristics on the psychological symptoms of general practitioners' (GPs) and community nurses.

Design, setting and participants: A stratified sampling cross-sectional survey was performed at the 12 community health services centres involved 233 GPs and 202 community nurses in three cities of Hubei Province in central China. The independent variables were career prospects, superior recognition, salary fairness, professional-patient relationship and self-perceived workload. The dependent variables were the General Health Questionnaire.

Results: The generalized linear regression showed the career prospects had a significant association with GPs' psychological health, whereas career prospects, self-perceived workload and superior recognition had significant association on the psychological health of community nurses. However, salary fairness and professional-patient relationship were not statistically significant for GPs or community nurses.

Conclusions: A better understanding of the effects of career prospects on the psychological health of GPs and community nurses, and improvements in superior recognition and workload on the psychological health of community nurses, would improve psychological symptoms of primary-level medical staff.

Keywords: community nurses; general practitioners; mental health; occupational health; psychological symptoms; work characteristics.