Recent changes in the administrative structure of the NHS seem to have been accompanied by a more marked degree of stress related behaviour. There has been specific concern about nurses and in 1983 the King's Fund awarded a grant to investigate the job-related problems of nurse managers at ward sister level and above. This study is the direct response to a problem identified by the staff of the occupational health department and the district nursing officer of a large health authority. They noted that recent changes in the administrative structure were accompanied by a high incidence of stress in nurses and wanted this examined so that they might be able to consider effective ways of dealing with it.