This study examined the psychometric properties of two selected scales--'personal burnout' and 'work-related burnout'--from the Chinese version of the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (C-CBI) in 384 employees from two companies in Taiwan. A self-administered questionnaire was used that included the two C-CBI scales, the scales of mental health, vitality and general health from the Short Form 36 (SF-36), perceived level of job stress, job satisfaction, working hours, as well as measures for psychological job demands, job control, work-related social support, and over-commitment to work. Both the C-CBI personal burnout scale and work-related burnout scale had high internal consistency and were correlated well with other health, job characteristics, and perception of work measures;furthermore, exploratory factor analysis extracted two empirical factors. However, the two C-CBI scales were highly correlated in the present population and appeared to measure overlapping concepts. Some comments and suggestions were raised for further improvement.

Adverse mental health conditions among physiciansincluding stress, burnout, and depression-can result in errors in professional conduct and interfere with the quality of healthcare provision [1][2][3] . Physicians are usually exposed to high levels of occupational stress resulting from heavy workloads and high levels of time pressure, and those in certain employment positions or specialties are at higher risk of suffering from depression disorders than the general population 4,5) . High occupational stress and depression within physicians can even lead to higher suicide ideation or suicide rates 6,7) .Among various risk factors in the work environment, job stress is central to workers' daily lives; its asso- Abstract: This study assessed the levels and association of occupational stress and depression rate among physicians, and to compare physicians' occupational stress with that of Taiwanese employees in other occupations. The subjects were physicians employed at 14 participating regional hospitals in the Around Taiwan Health Care Alliance. Self-administered questionnaires capturing data on demographics, occupational characteristics, occupational stress measured using Job Content Questionnaire (C-JCQ), and health status measured using Taiwanese Depression Questionnaire (TDQ) were sent to eligible physicians. Results revealed that the depression rate (13.3%) was higher than that found in the general population (3.7%) of Taiwan. The mean scores of the JCQ dimensions "work demands" and "job control" were both much higher than those in most occupations in Taiwan. Higher depression scores were found in subjects with higher work demands, 8-10 d of being on duty per month, and more frequent alcohol consumption, while lower depression scores were found in subjects working in the east Taiwan area, with higher job control and with greater workplace social support. On the other hand, gender, smoking, and working hour were not independently correlated with depression, but the interaction of gender and job control also had an independent effect on depression. This study suggests that job stress plays an important role in depression in physicians; it is necessary to pay attention to physicians at high risk of depression, as well as their work environments, for early detection and intervention.

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Distinct differences exist between public-private sector organizations with respect to the market environment and operational objectives; furthermore, among private sector businesses, organizational structures and work conditions often vary between large- and small-sized companies. Despite these obvious structural distinctions, however, sectoral differences in employees’ psychosocial risks and burnout status in national level have rarely been systematically investigated. Based on 2013 national employee survey data, 15,000 full-time employees were studied. Sector types were classified into “public,” “private enterprise-large (LE),” and “private enterprise-small and medium (SME);” based on the definition of SMEs by Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs, and the associations of sector types with self-reported burnout status (measured by the Chinese version of Copenhagen Burnout Inventory) were examined, taking into account other work characteristics and job instability indicators. Significantly longer working hours and higher perceived job insecurity were found among private sector employees than their public sector counterparts. With further consideration of company size, greater dissatisfaction of job control and career prospect were found among SME employees than the other two sector type workers. This study explores the pattern of public-private differences in work conditions and employees’ stress-related problems to have policy implications for supporting mechanism for disadvantaged workers in private sectors.