Common mental disorders among nursing workers in a psychiatric hospital

Abstract

Objective: To check the associations between sociodemographic and occupational variables, health conditions, and life habits and common mental disorders among nursing workers of a psychiatric hospital. Methods: This is a cross-sectional, quantitative study performed in a psychiatric hospital. Seventy-four nursing workers participated. Data were collected through a questionnaire for sociodemographic, occupational, and health and life habits characterization of the subscale Number of current diseases diagnosed by a physician, extracted from the Work Ability Index, the Ohayon Insomnia Questionnaire, and the Self-Reporting Questionnaire - 20. Statistical analysis was performed using chi-square, Fisher’s exact, Student’s t, and Mann-Whitney U tests. Results: The prevalence of common mental disorders was 25.7%. The variables associated with common mental disorders were: professional category (p = 0.015), leisure time (p <0.001), health problems (p = 0.003), and sleep satisfaction (p = 0.003). Conclusion: The findings of these associations allow us to infer that there is a relationship between workers’ life habits, their work activity, and the outcome evidenced by the higher percentage of common mental disorders. This study contributes with subsidies for proposing interventions and actions to prevent workers from becoming ill.