SITUATIONS OF IMBALANCING BETWEEN STRESS-REWARDS AND COMMON MENTAL DISORDERS IN BASIC HEALTH CARE WORKERS

Abstract

This study focused the association between common mental disorders and situations of imbalance between efforts and rewards in primary health care workers held in sanitary district, municipality of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The study included workers who were active in the district’s health in 2012. A cross-sectional study, with 400 out of 509 workers, was conducted. Effort-Reward Imbalance was used to evaluate effort and reward at work and the Self-Reporting Questionnaire measured common mental disorders. The prevalence of common mental disorders was 21%, 46.2% of studied workers experienced situations of work-reward imbalance at work. The highest prevalence of common mental disorders was observed in the effort-reward imbalance (26.9%) and in the operational workers group (33.8%). Correspondence analysis indicated a relationship between effort and reward imbalance and common mental disorders in the first dimension. The log-binomial logistic regression model showed a positive association between effort and reward imbalance and common mental disorders (adjusted prevalence ratio=1.91). Workers exposed to situations of effort-reward imbalance at work showed a higher frequency of mental illness. It is necessary to intervene in the management and organization of the work regarding the demands of the services, precarious work conditions and forms of reward or recognition.

Keywords
mental health; common disorders; effort-reward imbalance; worker’s health