Indian Journal of Positive Psychology © 2015 Indian Association of Health, Research and Welfare

2015, 6(3), 288-290 ISSN-p-2229-4937e-2321-368X

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Work stress, general well-being and coping strategies:

A comparative study on medico couples
Arvind K Birdie Madhu Jain Sarita Kulhari
IIMT School of Management Department of Psychology Research Scholar
(Now Vedatya), Gurgaon, Haryana University of Rajasthan, Jaipur Rajasthan University, Jaipur

The present study aims to explore and compare the work stress, general well being and coping strategies in medico
and non medico couples .For the purpose of study, a random sample of 50 couples out of which 25 medico and 25
non medicos were taken from the area of Jaipur city. Data were collected by using Cohen's Perceived work stress,
PGI General Well Being by Santosh Verma and Anita Verma and Coping strategies Scale by Folkman and Lazarus.
Mean, Standard deviation were employed for all variables and compared the different groups on the different
variables. Results revealed that there was no significant relationship in medico and non medico couples , whereas
medico couples were found to have poor general well being and non significant difference were found on coping
strategies.

Keywords: personality type, locus of control, optimism, suicide attempters

Stress and strain have become common features of modern life. In
the fast changing world of today, continuous adjustment demands
had made a biggest challenge at the cognitive and emotional level for
an individual. Bhatia and Punam (2002) revealed that medical
professionals males had low job satisfaction and high stress, whereas
medical professional females had moderate degree of job satisfaction
and high stress. Azar (2000) has been identified that work related
stress is one of the most serious occupational health hazards often
resulting in employee dissatisfaction, lowered productivity,
absenteeism and turnover. According to Newman (1989), the stress
response is virtually identical for males and females.
The task of managing or coping with stress is an important
determinant of happiness in individual's life. The role played by the
individual in the coping process is a matter of great concern. If a
person is unable to cope well effectively with stress, there are
chances that he/she may develop certain psychosomatic symptoms,
which in turn hamper the efficiency and effectiveness of his personal
or in family so to balance both areas. As both partners in same
profession which is very energy draining and physiologically
exhausting, how do they cope up in present scenario of hospitals
being always service oriented and with times more pressures of
being service package.
Keeping in mind the current perspective of stress and importance
of General wellbeing in profession such as medical with its coping
styles the researchers took the initiative to study and compare
variables for medico couples in Indian context, which is still male
dominated society.
Purpose
n To compare the medico couples and non medico couples
perceived work stress, General well being and coping strategies
Hypotheses of the study
Medico couples would have significantly high perceived work
n

adjustment. stress
General Well being is somewhat malleable concept which is to do Medico couples would have significantly poor general well being
n

with people's feelings about everyday life activities (Bradurn 1969, There would be significant differences in coping strategies and
n

Warr & Wall,1975, Cambell,1976). Person with an overall general
well being is the one who is healthy and fine with his mind, body as
well as soul. Burke and Weir (1976), Rosenfield (1980) found
husbands of employed women to be in poor mental health whereas
others reported that dual career couples maintain better mental health
(Berth,1977, Lockey,1978; Kesseler & Mcrae,1981).
Surti (1982) difference in the use of coping style and relationship
between role efficacy and various types of roles stressors were found
to be experienced by women in different professions. Research by
Linderoff (2000) indicates that social support reduces work stress
and strain.
Doctors profession is quite distressful with constant emergencies
assignments and hectic schedules. Being a regular witness to human
suffering and agony can be depressing for doctors. But they must
have a strategy to cope with stresses that they might face in their work
Correspondence should be sent to Dr. Arvind K Birdie
IIMT School of Management, (Now Vedatya), Gurgaon
the dimensions of coping strategies i.e. confronting coping, dista-
ncing coping, self controlling, seeking social support, accepting
responsibility, escape avoidance, planful problem solving and
positive reappraisal of the medico and non medico couples.
Method
Participants
Sample was drawn from the government hospitals, nursing homes
and private clinics of Jaipur City. 100 doctors (50 couples) were
selected from the medical profession in the age range of 30-45 years.
Half of the couples that is 25 medico couples were in the same
profession where as half of the couples that is 25 non medico couples
were those where only husbands were in medical profession and
their wives were housewives.
Instruments
Perceived work stress scale by Cohen (1983) : It is developed by
 Indian Journal of Positive Psychology 2015, 6(3), 288-290 289

Cohen(1983). It measures the degree to which situation in one's satisfied with their work and family roles. Studies by Kapur (1972)
life are appraised as stressful. This scale has 14 items. The Rani et al (1976) and Chakraborty (1978) suggested that women in
Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the internal reliability was 75. The dual earner families experience role conflict, role overload and
responses are rated on a five point scale from 0 to 4. marital stress mainly.
P.G.I General Well Being by Santosh Verma and Anita Verma (1974). Table 3.1: Mean, SD t value on Coping Strategies (Confronting
It is a self administered inventory that consists of 20 “yes” and “No” Coping) of medico couples and non medico couples
type items related to freedom from health, concern,worry, energy
level, relaxation level, cheerfulness, satisfaction, emotional behavior Groups N Mean SD T-value Level of
significance
etc. Its test retest reliability is ).91 for the English version and 86 for
the Hindi version. Medico couples 50 10.86 2.44 0.168 N.S
Coping Strategies Scale by Folkman and Lazarus (1985) It is a 4 Non Medico couples 50 10.94 2.32
point scale. Scores for each dimensions on coping styles ranges from Table 3.2: Mean, SD t value on Coping Strategies (Distancing) of
0 to 3. The minimum scores on each scale is 0 and maximum depends medico couples and non medico couples
on the number of items in each scale.
Groups N Mean SD T-value Level of
Procedure significance
After seeking permission from the authorities concerned, couples of Medico couples 50 10.34 2.72 0.356 N.S
30-45 age range was contacted. An attempt was made to establish a Non Medico couples 50 10.14 2.90
rapport with sample. Before administering the questionnaires, they
Table 3.3: Mean, SD t value on Coping Strategies (Self Controlling)
were assured of the confidentiality of their response. Special care
of medico couples and non medico couples.
was taken in administering the test properly.
Groups N Mean SD T-value Level of
Statistical analysis significance
Mean, standard deviation was computed for all the variables. Medico couples 50 4.64 1.69 1.008 N.S
Non Medico couples 50 4.98 1.68
Results and discussion
Table 3.4: Mean, SD t value on Coping Strategies (Seeking Social
Table 1: Mean, SD t value on work stress of medico couples and non
support) of medico couples and non medico couples.
medico couples.
Groups N Mean SD T-value Level of
Groups N Mean SD T value Level of
significance
significance
Medico couples 50 6.57 2.30 3.622 0.01
Medico couples 50 30.84 7.64 0.882 N.S
Non Medico couples 50 5.16 2.05
Non Medico couples 50 29.32 9.49 0.882 N.S
Table 3.5: Mean, SD t value on Coping Strategies (Acceptance of
Table 2: Mean, SD t value on General Well being of medico
Responsibility) of medico couples and non medico couples.
couples and non medico couples.
Groups N Mean SD T-value Level of
Groups N Mean SD T value Level of
significance
significance
Medico couples 50 4.66 1.52 0.333 N.S
Medico couples 50 10.84 6.57 4.65 0.01
Non Medico couples 50 4.76 1.48 0.333 N.S
Non Medico couples 50 15.84 3.79 4.65 0.01
Table 3.6: Mean, SD t value on Coping Strategies (Escape
Table 1 reveals that medicos and non medico couples do not differ
Avoidance) of medico couples and non medico couples.
significantly on work stress. Thus the hypothesis that medico couples
would perceive more work than medico couples is disapproved. The Groups N Mean SD T-value Level of
reason of individual differences in the resistance to stress might significance
justify the study. As people who have general expectancies for good Medico couples 50 4.66 1.60 0.494 N.S
outcome seem to be more resistance than people who have general Non Medico couples 50 4.82 1.64
expectation for poor outcome. This can be supported by the studies.
Table 3.7: Mean, SD t value on Coping Strategies (Planful Problem
Simpson and England (1981) suggesting that husbands and wives
solving) of medico couples and non medico couples.
who are in similar structural position have common framework” that
promotes happiness and marital solidarity. The equality perspective Groups N Mean SD T-value Level of
suggests that the individuals evaluate the overall decision of labor, in significance
and out of home and are happiest when things seem fair to both. Medico couples 50 4.60 1.68 0.474 N.S
Table 2 values of mean, S.D and t value on general well being of Non Medico couples 50 4.76 1.70
medico and non-medico couples (4.659, p<0.01) indicate that non
The findings from table 3.1 to 3.9 for coping strategies reflects
medico couples show better general well being in comparison to
that both the groups do not differ significantly the coping strategies
medico couples. This proves the second hypothesis. Rosenthal and
and all the dimension of coping strategies except on the seeking
Lindner (1982) studied the dual career life style and found that they
social support coping. It can be inferred that medico couples adopt
are not able to maintain a good personal relationship and less
290 BIRDIE ET AL./ WORK STRESS, GENERAL WELL-BEING AND COPING STRATEGIES
more seeking social support than the non medico couples. The reason
may be that due to the more stress at work site both the partners take
the lots of pain to perform their duties well. One of the most
important things associated with women is that they are very social
stresses within groups and due to the nature of duties, lack of time
they can not share their problem well and bind the social support to
cope well. Thus the hypothesis that there would be significant
difference between medico and non medico couple on the coping
strategies is partially proved. Comps (1987) examined the way one
copes with stress and how these coping help in reducing the adverse
psychological state linked with stress. A variety of coping resources
styles and specific strategies were found important in successfully
adopting to stress including efforts that focused directly on problems
and those which dealt with adverse emotions associated with stress.
Research by Linderoff (2000) indicated that social support reduces
work stress and strain. Seeking and receiving emotional support is
inconsistent with the male gender roles, and this intimate behavior is
opposite to the male gender role. According to Srivastava (1991),
although the approach coping lead to immediate perceived stress but
reduce tension in the long run. On the other hand avoidance strategies
contribute to gender tension and anxiety in the long run through, they
may help to get rid of immediate stress. Jeruesolum et al. (1989)
investigated to what extent subjective coping preferences (problem
focused coping and emotional focused coping) can be predicted by
individual and cultural differences in coping responses and coping
vulnerabilities. Emotional focused coping is influenced by anxiety
whereas self concept turned out to be beneficial for problem focused
coping.
Conclusion
Doctors continue a report that they experience considerable stress
and strain. A model which posits an interaction, and sometimes a
“mismatch”, between doctors personalities and the nature of their
work and imbalance between work and family life may be useful in
understanding the origins of their stress and in thinking about ways to
prevent it, to minimize its impact and to manage its adverse
consequences. The profession must establish better ways to
responding when doctors functioning compromised. For the
individual doctors, the goal is to improve the balance and discover
sustainable ways of remaining healthy while honoring the demands
of the altruistic traditions of our profession. A doctor's career should
be experienced as inherently satisfying in response to a meaningful
job well done.
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