Ansiedade, estresse, depressão e uso de drogas entre trabalhadores de enfermagem no ambiente hospitalar

Abstract

Nursing activities at hospital environment present a scenario of competitive and confrontational practices. The factors related to the poor infrastructure, the exhaustive work hours, the bad salaries, the fact of have to deal with pain and sometimes with the death contribute with the workers’ processing of sickness. OBJECTIVES - Analyze the levels of mental health problems, such as stress, anxiety and depression, related to the use of alcohol and other drugs among the nursing staff of the Hospital de Clínicas da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (General Hospital of University of Uberlândia). METHODOLOGY - Quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional research that used ASSIST questionnaires (Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test) to screen the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS), which assesses depression, stress and anxiety symptoms. The analysis of the data was done through the use of descriptive and exploratory statistics. The level of significance was set at p> 0.005. RESULTS - The study population was made by 1.152 workers, with a sample of 416 participants. It was observed a prevalence of female (85.2%), married (69.5%), Catholics (44.1%), undergraduate degree (63.8%), age between 30 and 39 years (60.2%), and time of working in Nursing between 6 and 10 years (22.1%). In terms of drug use, there was a risk for alcohol use in 6.7% of the participants and use in binge in 36.1%. It was also presented that 5.3% of the participants have risky use of tobacco. Regarding the presence of mental disorders symptoms, 27.4% reported some level of depression, 25.7% of stress and 28.4% of anxiety. Positive correlations were found between socialdemographic characteristics and use of alcohol and other drugs, as well as with depression, anxiety and stress. In addition, there was a positive correlation between the three mental health disorders, between alcohol and sedative use with depression, stress and anxiety, and between alcohol use with other drugs. CONCLUSION – The attendance of Nursing workers’ mental health conditions is primordial, since depression, stress and anxiety may appear together and are related to the use of alcohol and other drugs. That fact demonstrates the possibility of a greater number of mental comorbidities in those professionals, exacerbating their general health.