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Doctors, including general practitioners, experience higher levels of mental illness than the general population. General practitioners who are partners in their practices may face heightened stress. In total, 10 general practitioner partners living with work-related distress were interviewed, and transcripts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Three major themes arose: (1) extreme distress, (2) conflicted doctor identity and (3) toxic versus supportive workplace relationships. Participants detailed symptoms of depression, anxiety and burnout; reported conflicted identities; and discussed the impact of bullying partnerships. We recommend that organisational interventions tackling issues such as bullying be implemented and opportunities to debrief be offered as protected time activities to general practitioner partners.

More information Original publication

DOI

10.1177/1359105318758860

Publisher

SAGE

Publication Date

22/02/2018

Pages

1 - 11

Addresses

Project No: 282 PI: Ruth Riley

Keywords

anxiety, depression, distress, interpretative phenomenological analysis, mental illness, primary care