Relationship between occupational stress and health perception in healthcare professionals

Abstract

Occupational stress is a relevant psychosocial risk in emergency services and may coexist with an unfavorable perception of health status. The objective was to analyze the relationship between occupational stress and self-perceived health among physicians and nursing professionals working in the emergency department of Hospital de Especialidades San Juan, Riobamba, Ecuador. An observational, non-experimental, cross-sectional, descriptive and correlational study was conducted. The source population comprised 57 professionals; after eligibility criteria were applied, 51 participants were analyzed. The ILO-WHO occupational stress questionnaire and the first section of the Nottingham Health Profile were used. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation were applied. Mean age was 36.82 years; 66.67% were women and 78.43% were nursing personnel. Lack of cohesion was among the dimensions with the greatest exposure to occupational stress and reached 97.50% among nursing personnel. Mild health impairment was the most frequent self-perceived health category (33.33%), followed by acceptable health (25.49%). A strong negative correlation was identified between occupational stress and self-perceived health (r = -0.837; p = 0.01). Because of the cross-sectional design, this result indicates association rather than causation: higher occupational stress scores were associated with less favorable self-perceived health. Psychosocial risk surveillance should therefore integrate organizational factors and perceived-health indicators, with particular attention to nursing personnel.