This work analyzes occupational stress in 155 health professionals (example: doctors and nurses) from hospitals and health care centres in the north of Portugal. We evaluated the following variables: stress, burnout, proactive coping, organizational commitment and satisfaction/professional fulfilment. Results revealed significant stress experiences in 15% of the professionals and emotional exhaustion problems in 6%. Comparative analysis (MANOVA and t-test for independent samples) suggested a higher tendency to experience occupational stress in the following groups: a) females (although males showed more depersonalization problems); b) younger and less experienced professionals; c) single persons; d) nurses practitioners; e) professionals that worked in health care centres; f) those professionals with short-term working contracts; and g) the professionals working on a shift-basis system. At the end, we discuss some of the implications for future research of the present study.
Occupational stress; burnout; coping; organizational commitment; satisfaction
