Results

106 questionnaires were returned using the online response form out of a possible 320, giving a response rate of 33%. In order to be submitted, forms required all sections to be completed including grade and sex, therefore no responses were excluded due to insufficient data.

Anxiety Scores

In total 63/106 (59%) respondents had low level anxiety, 37/106 (35%) had average level anxiety scores and 6/106 (6%) had high-level anxiety scores. The mean anxiety score was 16. Anxiety scores were further broken down by grade and sex.

Anxiety scores by Grade of Respondent

In total 22/106 consultants, 10/106 SAS-grade, 17/106 senior STR, 46/106 junior STR and 10/106 core trainee/ equivalent completed the questionnaire. For consultants the mean SCAT score was 15 (range 10-24), for SAS grade doctors the mean score was 16 (range 10-23), for senior STR the mean score was 16 (range 10-29), for junior STR mean score was 16 (range 10-27) and for CT/CT equivalent doctors the score was 19 (range 13-23) see Table 2 for data. The 6 otolaryngologists with high anxiety were in the Senior STR group (2/6) and Junior STR group (4/6). There was no significant difference in anxiety between different grades of otolaryngologist.

Anxiety Scores by Sex of Respondent

In total 67/106 (63.2%) respondents were male, 38/106 (35.8%) were female and 1/106 (0.9%) preferred not to say. The females had a statistically significantly higher mean score of 18 than the males of 15 (p=0.006).
This was further broken down by grade of respondent. 16/22 consultants were male, 5/22 consultants were female and 1/22 preferred not to say. Male consultants had a statistically significantly lower mean SCAT score of 14 (range 10-21) compared to 19 for females (range 14-24) (p=0.01). Combining all middle-grade doctors (SAS, senior STR and junior STR) consisted of 73 doctors, of these 45/73 were male and 28/73 were female. Male middle grade otolaryngologists had a statistically significantly lower mean SCAT score of 15 (range 10-27) compared to 18 for females (range 11-29) (p=0.01). In the CT/CT equivalent group 5/11 were males and 6/11 were females. Male CT/CT equivalent mean SCAT score was 16 (range 13-22) compared to 19 for females (range 13-23), this was not statistically significant. See Table 3.