چکیده (انگلیسی):

Background:Prolonged stress may lead to mental illness, but the prevalence of stress in a working age population
seeking primary health care for whatever reason, is unknown. This paper seeks to examine to what extent this
group perceives stress, as well as symptoms of burnout/exhaustion, depression and anxiety.
Methods:In 2009, 587 primary health care patients aged 18–65 years (377 women, 210 men), with an appointment
with a primary health care physician, participated in the study.
A screening questionnaire with questions about age, gender, marital status, employment, reason for medical
consultation, and the QPS Nordic screening question about stress was distributed:”Stress is defined as a condition
where you feel tense, restless, anxious or worried or cannot sleep at night because you think of problems all the time.
Do you feel that kind of stress these days? There were five possible answers;“not at all”and”only a little”(level 1),“to
some extent”(level 2),“rather much”and“very much”(level 3). In a second step, symptoms of burnout/exhaustion
(Shirom-Melamed Burnout Questionnaire and the Self-rated Exhaustion Disorder instrument) and anxiety/depression
(Hospital Depression and Anxiety scale) were assessed among those with higher levels of perceived stress.
Results:345 (59%) of the study patients indicated stress levels 2 or 3 (237 women and 108 men). Women more often
indicated increased levels of stress than men. Two thirds of the participants expressing stress levels 2–3indicateda
high degree of burnout, and approximately half of them indicated Exhaustion Disorder (ED). Among highly stressed
patients (level 3), 33% reported symptoms indicating possible depression and 64% possible anxiety.
Conclusion:More than half of this working age population perceived more than a little stress, as defined, women to a
greater extent than men. Symptoms of burnout and exhaustion were common. A high level of perceived stress was
often accompanied by symptoms of depression and/or anxiety.