occupational stress among rural health workers in mashhad district, northeast iran

background: this study explores the level of occupational stress and main sources of occupational and personal stress among rural health workers (rhw) of the health network of mashhad district. method: the first part of the occupational stress inventory (osi) (called the occupational roles questionnaire (orq)) was used to measure the rural health workers occupational stress (n=172). a number of extra questions were also added to measure their specific sources of stress. the questionnaires were distributed among rhw in a meeting held in the health district center in the city of mashhad. results: the mean score of stress for the investigated subjects on osi and all of its dimensions was within the normal range. on some dimensions such as role overload and role ambiguity however, about 40% of the health workers had middle to sever stress. type of employment, distance of the village to the nearest city, number and combination of health workers in rural health clinics showed to have a significant impact on the rhw stress as well. conclusion: as the rhw job is concerned, role overload and role ambiguity are the main sources of stress, which may have an adverse effect on the quality of their services. type of employment, distance of the village to the nearest city, number and combination of health workers at the health center also put pressure on rhw that need to be taken under consideration in planning for improving rhw quality of work life.