Repercussions of cervical pain on the quality of life of health professionals in Intensive Care Units

Abstract

Objective. To analyze the repercussions of neck pain on the quality of life of health professionals in intensive care units. Methods. Cross-sectional, descriptive and correlational study, carried out with 94 health professionals (21 nurses, 13 physical therapists and 60 nursing technicians) in Intensive Care Units of two medium-sized hospitals in a municipality in the far south of Brazil. An instrument containing variables of sociodemographic and work environment characterization was applied; the Neck Bournemouth Questionnaire (NBQ) and the WHOQOL-Bref were applied. Results. There was a predominance of female professionals (88.3%), white (78.8%), aged 30 to 39 years (34.1%), with family income between one and two minimum wages (31.9%) and weekly workload between 31 and 40 hours (67%), night shift (54.3%), time of professional experience of one to five years (38.3%) and one job (73.4%). Neck pain and disability showed significant negative correlations with quality of life. The relationship was weak with the physical (r: -0.218; p=0.035) and psychological (r: -0.280; p=0.006) domains, and moderate with social relationships (r: -0.419; p<0.001), environment (r: -0.280; p<0.001) and general quality of life (r: -0.280; p<0.001). Overall quality of life showed a moderate correlation with the feeling of anxiety (r: -0.431; p<0.001) and depression (r: -0.515; p<0.001) of professionals in the last week. Conclusion. Neck pain caused repercussions in the physical, psychological, social, environmental and general quality of life of health professionals in intensive care units.