Common Mental Disorders and Risk Perception in Nursing Work at Covid-19 Hospital Units

Abstract

Objective: to analyze the associations between suspected Common Mental Disorders and risk perception in Nursing work at Covid-19 hospital units and to understand the elements intertwined in these relationships, from the workers' perspective. Method: a parallel-convergent mixed-methods study, carried out with 327 Nursing workers from Covid-19 units in seven hospitals from the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The quantitative data were collected through a sociodemographic, work-related and risk perception questionnaire, added to the Self-Reporting Questionnaire and subjected to inferential statistical analysis. The qualitative data were produced through semi-structured interviews and treated in the light of thematic content analysis. Results: in all, 76.4% of the participants reported that their performance during the Covid-19 pandemic considerably or greatly increased the risks in their job. Regarding the risk exposure intensity, the workers consider themselves very exposed to the following risks: Covid-19 infection (51.4%); contaminating their family (45.9%); a family member developing a severe form of Covid-19 (46.5%); suffering psychological harms (47.7%); experiencing sleep (45.9%) or dietary pattern (40.7%) disorders; and isolating themselves from friends and family (48%). All of these variables were associated with suspected Common Mental Disorders. Qualitatively, it was evident that fear was the feeling signaling the intersection between risk perception and mental illness. Conclusion: suspected Common Mental Disorders were associated with the perception of multiple risks, with fear as the main element intertwined in this relationship.