Occupational risks and illness among mental health workers

Objective

To analyze the association between illness and occupational risks among mental health workers.

Methods

An epidemiological cross-sectional study was conducted with 163 professionals who were members of a multidisciplinary mental health team at a psychiatric hospital, split into two groups: those who had and those who had not taken medical leaves of absence. Data were collected using a questionnaire examining the studied variables and by accessing records of medical leaves of absence.

Results

The identified occupational risks were primarily exposure to bacteria and virus (87.12%), tobacco smoke (82.82%), noise (81.60%), adopting inadequate body posture due to ergonomic inadequacies (72.39%) and stress (71.17%). Approximately 64.42% of workers became ill during the period of the study and 270 diagnoses were recorded.

Conclusion

More than half of the mental health workers presented health problems, however, only a small portion of their diagnoses was included on the list of occupational diseases. There were statistically significant associations among the variables illness, chemical risk and psychosocial risk.

Occupational risks; Health personnel; Mental health; Occupational health; Occupational diseases