ABSTRACT
Aside from the limitations of the traditional theories of stress and hence occupational stress, that were identified by Cox (1981), another conspicuous early feature of the occupational stress literature was the relative absence of reports on health workers. Much of the understanding about work stress and its impact on health workers has come from the burgeoning literature on burnout, perhaps mainly because health care has been seen from the beginning of the burnout movement as a rightful domain of such work (Maslach and Schaufeli, 1993). Also, the term ‘burnout’ was coined following observations of stressed staff in a community health clinic (Freudenberger, 1974).
