Abstract
The study aimed to evaluate the relationship between occupational stress and the work capacity index of 368 nurses (82.1% of the population) of a Hospital Group. A questionnaire with socio-occupational questions was used as well as two scales: the Job Stress Scale and the Work Capacity Index. The group of nurses was predominantly female (93.2%), worked in care activities (63.9%), had undertaken at least one Postgraduate course (76%) and were satisfied with the unit where they worked (70.5%). Occupational stress was present in 23.6% of the nurses, of these 15.2% presented High Strain work and 8.4% Passive Work. Social Support exercised a significant positive influence on all groups - exposed or not to occupational stress. Regarding the Work Capacity, this was Moderate (28-36 points) for 51.4% of the nurses and Good (37-43 points) for 47.4%. There was no correlation between stress and work capacity.
Highlights
Stress is currently a common term and features in the quotidian of health professionals
The majority of absences were due to problems that could result from stress, such www.eerp.usp.br/rlae
The Hospital Group (HG), which consists of four hospitals and 12 primary health units (PHU), is an institution for care, teaching and research focused exclusively on the care of patients within the Brazilian National Health System
Summary
Stress is currently a common term and features in the quotidian of health professionals. From May 2007 until April 2008, according to data provided by the personnel department of this institution, there were 782 sick leave incidences of nurses. These amounted to 1,087 days of medical certificated absenteeism (leave of up to 15 days) and 676 days of absences over 15 days, where nurses had to contact the National Social Security Institute. At this time the institution had 456 nurses on the staff, who had a mean of 1.71 days of medical certificate absences and 3.86 days of sick leave of over 15 days in the year. The majority of absences were due to problems that could result from stress, such www.eerp.usp.br/rlae
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