With the increasing numbers of women in medicine it is important to study this group separately as gender may affect stress, mental health and satisfaction level.

The aim of this study was to identify the sources of stress in women doctors that are predictive of mental ill-health job and dissatisfaction.

Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in this study. Twenty five doctors were interviewed of which 15 were women. In the second stage questionnaires assessing levels of mental health, job satisfaction and sources of stress were distributed to a random sample of doctors in the North West of England. Of the 249 doctors, 85 were women. This study is based on the women doctors only in order to avoid confounding the women sample with male subjects.

Multivariate analysis disclosed two job stressors that are predictive of mental ill-health; these were: communication and co-operation at work and demands of the job on family and social life. Two coping factors were predictive of job dissatisfaction, these were problem focused coping and wishful thinking. In addition, majority of women doctors showed high type A behaviour scores.

There may be substantial benefit in providing a support network system for women doctors and other health care professionals who suffer from stress in the workplace.