1.

INTRODUCTION
First introduced by Selye1, the term stress is now widely used to describe the state
of tension often seen as being related to modern life. In the context of primary care,
a definition integrated into a conceptual model with a validated measurement
instrument would help to ensure that this term is used appropriately.Stress is a
multi-dimensional concept and may be defined based onlanguage and
organizational perspectives. In terms of language, it isoriginally derived from the
Latin word that is stringere, which refers todraw tight, to describe hardships and/or
affliction2. It often occurs when individuals physical and emotionaldo not match or
cannot handle their job demands, constraints and/or opportunities 3, 4, 5may establish
two major types of stress: eustress (good stress)and distress (bad stress) 6, 7.Eustress
is often defined as individuals who have experienced moderateand low stress levels
and distress is frequently defined as individualswho have experienced high stress
level. Individuals who experienceeustress will be able to meet job demands and
this may helpthem to increase positive work life (e.g., satisfaction and positive
moralvalues). Conversely, individuals who experience distress will not ableto
fulfill job demands and this may motivate them to decrease qualityof work life
(e.g., dissatisfaction and negative moral values) 8,4,6,11.
In an organizational context, occupational stress is also known as jobstress and/or
work stress. These terms are often used interchangeablyin organizations, but its
meaning refers to the same thing 12, 13. It has two major dimensions: physiological
stressand psychological stress. Physiological stress is often viewed as a
physiologicalreaction of the body (headache, migraine, abdominal pain,lethargic,
backache, chest pain, fatigue, heart palpitation, sleep disturbanceand muscle ache,
as well as changes in eating, drinking, sleepingand smoking habits) to various
stressful triggers at the workplace 14, 15, 16 and 17. For example, psychological stress is
often seen as an emotionalreaction (anxiety and depression burnout, job alienation,
hostility,depression, tension, anger, anxiety, nervousness, irritability and
frustration) as a result of the stimuli at the workplace 8, 15, and 20. If employeescannot
control such stresses this may negatively affect their work attitudesand behavior
(satisfaction, commitment, productivity, quality and health) in the workplace 21, 6, and
11
. In terms of eustress perspective, occupational stress occurs when
employeesknowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes can cope with ormatch to their
work demands and pressures in organizations. In thissituation, it may increase the
ability of employees to manage their physiological and psychological stresses 24,

25,20,2

.Conversely, in a distress perspective, occupational stress presentswhen

employees knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes cannot copewith or do not
match to their work demands and pressures in organizations.Consequently, it may
decrease the ability of employees to controland manage physiological and
psychological stresses, such as disturbtheir self-regulatory bodies, and cannot meet
their duties and responsibilitiesas a member of an organization14, 16, 30, and 31.
Stress is an unwanted reaction people have to severe pressures or other types of
demands placed upon them. A huge and multi fields literature points a lot of key
factors such as work environment, management support, workload etc. in
determining the stressful the work can be and its effect on employee physical and
mental health32. According to Anderson, work to family conflicts is also a
predecessor whichcreates stress in employees of an organization 33. Job stress has
been also viewed as dysfunctional for organizations and their members 34. Although
stress has been variously viewedas an environmental stimulus to an individual 34
,Selye in 1956 defined stress as an individual'sreaction to an environmental force
that affects an individual performance1. Job related stress can be mostly
immobilizing because of its possible threats to family functioning and individual
performance. Job related stresscan create a difference between demands on
families and the ability of families to provide material security for them 35. While
there is a significant body of research which deals with work and familythere is
relatively little research which deals specifically with perceived job insecurity
(i.e.,concerns or fears about job loss) 11 and marriage and family life37. Stress
condition whichhappens when one realizes the pressures on them, or the
requirements of a situation, are wider than their recognition that they can handle, if
these requirements are huge and continue for a longer period of time without any
interval, mental, physical or behavior problems may occur 38,39.Stress exists in every
organization either big or small the work places and organizations have become so
much complex due to which it exists, work place stress has significant effects over
the employees job performance, and the organizations in UK are trying to cope
with this scenario40. Eleven forces have been used as antecedents of stress by
previous researches viz. Overload, Role vagueness, Role conflict, Responsibility
for people,Participation, Lack of feedback, Keeping up with quick technological
change, Being in an innovative role, Career growth, Organizational structure and
environment, and Recent episodic events, Overload :excessive work orwork that is
outside one's capability 41,42,43, Role Ambiguity : Role insufficient information
concerning powers, authority and duties to perform one's role 42,34, Role Conflict:
Supervisors or subordinates place contradictory demands on the individual46,47,48,34.
Responsibility for people: Responsibility for people, well-being works, job
security, andprofessional development42, 49. Participation: Extent to which one has
influence over decisions relevant to one's job41, 52. Lack of Feedback: Lack of

information about job performance47, 50. Keeping up with rapid technological

change:Keeping up with rapid changes in the information processing field 51. Being
in an innovative role: Having to bring about change in the organization 34, 52.
Careerdevelopment: Impact of status dissimilarity, lack of job security, let down
ambitio53, 54, and 34.Recent episodic events: Certain life events, such as divorce and
bereavement that are highly stressful46, 47, 48, 49.
In every organization and at every level of management and workers an elevated
average level ofstress is to be found which mostly has an effect on employees job
satisfaction. According to Rose, employees have tendency towards high level of
stress regarding time, working for longer hours which reduces employees urge for
performing better46. Management support helps in reducing or increases stress in
employees,apparent organizational assistance, management support work as a
cushion which actspositively in decreasing work related stress in employees 55.
There are a lot of reasons causing stress work family conflicts work over load one
of reason identified by Stamper & Johlke that if the organization or management
does not appreciates its employees for their hard work or contribution toward the
organization createsstress and mostly creates intention to leave 55. Ivancevich &
Donnelly studied the link between anxiety stresswith satisfaction and performance
of employees, that lower anxiety stress improves performance of employees which
he studied in different managerial level of an organization 56. Beehr, Jex, Stacy &
Murray found therelationship between occupational stressors and the performance
of employees of an organization as well as it can affect the employees
psychologically57. Jamal studied an association between job stress and job
performancebetween managers and blue-collar employee58. Stress on job can be
stated as the outcome of an individual due tothe working environment from which
he feels unsecured. Schuler identified stress in organizations asan increasingly
important concern in bothorganizational research and practice 59. An interesting
finding by Beehr was that even if there was role strain, people with situational
characteristics, especially autonomy, did not suffer as greatly from it 60. According
to another research, stress results from the interaction between stressors and the
individuals perception and reaction to those stressors 61. The amount of stress
experienced may be influenced by the individuals ability to effectively cope with
stressful events and situations62 and if stress is not dealt with effectively, feelings of
loneliness and nervousness, as well as sleeplessness and excessive worrying may
result63.
In comparison to other professions, teaching is remarkably mentally stressful, but
less physically so. Due to this fact, the working situation of teachers and the state
of teachers health has been increasingly taken into accounting the work science

over the past 30years64. It is noticeable that many teachers take early retirement for
medical reasons/diagnoses65.
In health sector for doctors and nurses many studies about occupational stress were
conducted using different samples, such as 68 health visitors, 56 district nurses,
and 19 community/psychiatric nurses in one health authority in the UK 66, 547 male
and female general practitioners and 449 consultant doctors in Scotland health
science67, 440 Malaysian managers in multinational companies16, 335 male and
female Greek junior hospital doctors in Greater Athens area 15, 461 nurses recruited
from the public health andeducational system in the Federal District Brazil 68, and
23 nursing teams69. Findingsfrom these studies reported that the ability of
employees to cope with physiological stress (i.e., workloads, working conditions,
physical health and working hours) and psychological stress (i.e., relationships at
work, support, mental health and positive thinking) had increasedjob satisfaction in
the workplace.
This survey report is designed to provide professionals with a concept, a model,
and a psychological stress measurement tool adapted to their context and needs.
The survey report looks at the issue from a generic public interest perspective
(employers and employees, in particular), as well as from the perspective of mental
health service users. It looks at workplace stress as a trigger for mental ill health.

1.1 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Talking about stress has become part of normal everyday conversation. We might
talk about being stressed by our partners, children, and financial worries and, of
course, our jobs. Most of us recognize the symptoms of stress as feeling anxious,
worrying more than usual, not being able to concentrate, and not sleeping well. But
we don't always take our feelings of stress that seriously, assuming either that its
part and parcel of life or that it will pass.
But when our jobs are the cause of stress, we can feel powerless to do anything
about it, which of course raises our stress levels even higher. We may feel we can't
admit feeling stressed to anyone at work, because it's somehow a sign of weakness
or of mental distress. Many of us work in environments where mental distress is
still very much stigmatized. But, owned up to or not, the situation is stark: work
related stress is estimated to be the biggest occupational health problem in the UK

after musculoskeletal disorders. What's more, common mental health problems like
depression and anxiety now account for more Incapacity Benefit claims than back
pain. The effects, therefore, of work related stress, both on individuals and
organizations, are profound.
The problem statement formulated as a question reads as follows:
Is occupational stress, strain and coping resources statistically significantly
different among different professions like doctors, engineers and teachers?

1.2 HYPOTHESIS
On the basis of personal experience and observation we hypothesize that out of the
three professionals under survey namely doctors, engineers and teachers; doctors
will have higher stress levels due to their critical job description.

1.3 SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES

With reference to the above formulation of the problem, the general aim of this
research is to investigate whether perceived stress, psychological strain, and coping
resources are affected by seniority, age, race and gender, that is, do employees
from different professions report differing levels of stress, strain and coping?
The general theoretic framework we developed is based on a biopsychosocial
model of stress that includes environmental parameters and individual processes of
perception and coping with stressors.
The present investigation is taken up with the following objectives:

Assess the quality of life of a sample of professionals belonging to different

occupations such as doctors, engineers and teachers.

Make a comparative analysis of the quality of life in terms of profession, sex

and marital status.

Investigate the relationship between quality of life and variables like age,
gender, qualification, job profile and income.

Determine whether there are differences among the professional groups in

quality of life over and above the differences attributable to the above personality
variables.
Through this report we tried to investigate various types of stress such as:
Situational Stress
Body Stress
Mind Stress

1.4 JUSTIFICATION
An important asset to a successful profession is a stress-free work environment.
Professionals identify the need for stress management training as a way to optimize
individual and organizational performance. Hence, our report, considering the
above mentioned limitations, proves to be a helpful tool for various professionals
and students who are going to enter into their professional fields like those of our
university.

1.5 DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS

Stress Stress is a demand made upon the adaptive capacities of the mind and
body.
Situational Stress
Situational stress is caused by situational stressors in our immediate
environment. An example would be sitting in an airplane as it is taxiing the
runway for takeoff. You may be sitting, clutching the arm rests and hoping that

you won't need to use the emergency instructions that the stewardess has just
explained to you.
Body Stress
Body stress is stress that results in overt physical symptoms. Examples include
abuse, such as consuming too much alcohol, abusing drugs, or exercising too
much. On the other hand, some people neglect their bodies by not getting
enough sleep or proper nutrition.
Mind Stress
Mind stress is caused by negatively perceiving life events. Some people have a
tendency to exaggerate problems or even invent problems that don't exist. We
sometimes say that these people make "mountains out of molehills".
Eustress
Eustress can be defined as a pleasant or curative stress. We can't always avoid
stress, in fact, sometimes we don't want to. Often, it is controlled stress that
gives us our competitive edge in performance related activities like athletics,
giving a speech, or acting.

2. METHODOLOGY
In our qualitative studies, stress is recognized as a target construct in the process of
adapting to life events and circumstances; it hopefully appears socially acceptable.
For this reason, it warrants a measurement instrument validated for the specific
concept of stress that is reliable, responsive, user-friendly, and economical.
The study design is a normal cross-sectional study conducted at various
government run institutes like medical and engineering universities, engineering
firms, tertiary care hospitals, schools, etc. in district South of Karachi. The duration
of study was approximately 4 months in which around 600 individuals were
surveyed. Professionals were questioned about the actual causes of their stress and
the circumstances that lead to stress, how they cope up, how they manage their
work while they are stressed. The results obtained are represented in numerical as
well as graphical form to provide the actual picture of the stressful situations faced

by these professions at their workplace. Only those individuals are included in the
sample that have completed their graduation and work in government run
professional institution. Permissions from the directors of different hospitals and
institutions were obtained before surveying their respective institutions. Similarly
permissions from District Education Officers (D.E.Os)male and female of district
South Karachi were also obtained. The scoring of the collected data is done
according to 4 and 5 points Frequency-type Likert Scale which has options for
generally is a source, definitely is a source, generally is not a source, definitely is
not a source and never, seldom, sometimes, often and always, respectively. The
data thus collected is entered and analyzed using SPSS v.20.

4. RESULTS
In our research three professions were included viz. doctors, engineers and
teachers. The sample size was 600
Around 200 doctors were approached. Their mean age was calculated 29.2(37.5%
with age 25- the largest category to respond). Out of these 55 were males (27.5%)
and 145 females (72.5%). Most of the doctors participated had income of 25,000
PKR (f = 113, 56.5%). Majority of the doctors were postgraduates (f = 86, 43%)
and 116 were single (58%). Out of the 10 questions asked in Section 3 of the
questionnaire which was made to find sources of work pressure in doctors, 5
questions results were found to be statistically significant viz. irregular schedule
with constant thoughts of patients in mind (p = 0.014), difficult patients (p =
0.018), work environment in hospitals (p = 0.023), poor recognition and value of
worth (p = 0.008), I have to study much to get familiar with everything under
medicine (p = 0.002).
Around 200 engineers were also questioned. Their mean age was calculated
33.2(22.4% with age 25- the largest category to respond). Out of these 147 were
males (73.5%) and 53 females (26.4%). Most of the engineers participated had
income of 50,000 PKR (f = 35, 17.5%). Majority of the engineers were graduates
(masters) (f = 108, 54%) and 129 were married (64.5%). Out of the 17 questions
asked in Section 3 of the questionnaire which was made to find sources of work
pressure in engineers, 5 questions results were found to be statistically significant
viz. I have far too much work to do (p = 0.000), I have a lack of power and

influence (p = 0.000), coping with office politics (p = 0.000), inadequate or poor

quality of training/management development (p = 0.000), lack of encouragement
(p = 0.000).
Similarly 200 teachers were questioned.Their mean age was calculated 38.6 (7%
with age 25- the largest category to respond). Out of these 56 were males (28%)
and 144 females (72%). Most of the teachers participated had a teaching
experience of over 10 years (f = 105, 52.5%). 5 questions out of total 13 in Section
3 were found to be statistically significant, viz. pupils who lack motivation (p =
0.028), too many pupils in one class (p = 0.005), excessive workload (p = 0.006),
changeable education policy of the government (p = 0.000), pupils misbehavior
(p= 0.042).