656 Mental health and quality of life are strongly associated to occupational stress: a study with workers from a youth custody centre in brazil

Abstract

Introduction Workers from Youth Custody Centres are submitted to several occupational stressors in Brazil. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the impact of occupational stress in mental health and quality of life of workers from a youth custody centre. Methods Cross-sectional study with a sample of 208 civil servants from a youth custody centre in southern Brazil. We used the Job Stress Scale (JSS) to analyse the exposure to psychological demands, job control and social support at work, based on the job strain model. Outcomes were measured using the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) and the World Health Organisation Quality of Life instrument – brief version (WHOQOL-bref) to evaluate anxiety, depression and quality of life of workers. Results Physical, social relationships and environmental domains of quality of life had low mean scores in our sample. Job strain was associated with lower scores in all quality of life domains. Psychological demands and low social support were strongly associated to worse scores in quality of life. Anxiety and depression were also strongly associated to worse quality of life. Discussion Occupational stress and bad mental health are associated to worse scores in quality of life in these workers.