Epidemiological and Clinical Predictors of License for Health Care Due to MBD

Abstract

This article aimed to check the association between clinical and epidemiological predictors of sick leave due to mental and behavioral disorders in public servants. Two databases were used: one epidemiological, with demographic and occupational data of public servants from Santa Catarina, enabling prevalence calculations for this population; one clinical, with results from three instruments in a representative sample of 822 servants. The prevalence of epidemiological variables from each sample servant has been associated with their clinical scores (obtained by the instruments), allowing comparisons between clinical and epidemiological predictions. As a result, it was found that regression models covering both clinical and epidemiological variables have explained larger parts of the outcomes' range (reaching 60.7% of benefits granted). It is concluded, finally, that although psychology and epidemiology are distinct sciences, their remarkable contributions to health complement each other. Such articulation is rare in literature and enhances the psychological tradition of clinical studies. Therefore, it enriches the field in order to promote and protect mental health, as well as to prevent mental disorders, in work environments.