Development and validation of a Re-Modified Work-Style Short Form Questionnaire for assessment of stress in medical practitioners working in Indian hospitals

Medical practitioners are unduly stressed, leading to ill health, loss of work efficiency, sometimes affecting decision-making capability. The present study was conducted with the aim to quantify the psychosocial factors that affect the medical practitioners working in Indian hospitals. This study constructed and validated Re-Modified Work-Style Short Form Questionnaire, an eight-item instrument based on work style of 108 medical practitioners comprising Indian physicians and surgeons. The re-modified tool had acceptable validity and internal consistency, which the modified one did not. Explorative factor analysis identified and labelled three factors: ‘Working through pain’, ‘Deadlines/pressure’ and ‘Self-imposed workload’. The findings of the study reveal that the mean total work style score exceeded the standardised limits ≥16, which suggests that the work style of medical practitioners working in Indian hospitals are at risk which may precipitate psychosocial stress. Factor weights was derived through Analytic Hierarchy Process to prioritise the relative importance of three potential work-style factors. The study may help to increase the preventive strategies to proactively reduce the effect of risk factors for the precipitation of stress, successfully leading to its attenuation.