Protocol of the Study on Emergency Health Care Workers' Responses Evaluated by Karasek Questionnaire: The SEEK-Study Protocol.

Jean-Baptiste Bouillon-Minois,Maelys Clinchamps,Marion Trousselard,Céline Occelli,Frédéric Dutheil,David Thivel,Farès Moustafa,Jeannot Schmidt,Ukadike Chris Ugbolue,Bruno Pereira,Guillaume Vallet

doi:10.3390/ijerph18084068

Abstract

Background: Stress is a significant public health concern that can be self-evaluated using the job control demands model from Karasek. Emergency health care workers are particularly exposed to stress because of the intrinsic characteristics associated with the job (i.e., life-threatening emergencies, overcrowding, lack of bed spaces). However, these attributes have never been studied using the Karasek model. Methods: An observational, prospective, multicentric study in French Emergency Departments will be conducted using a cohort of emergency health care workers. Four questionnaires before a control day and after a nightshift will be assessed every 5 years in the same emergency departments. Also, the Karasek questionnaire, a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory scale, the Hospital Anxiety, Depression Scale, and a food intake questionnaire will be evaluated. Salivary biomarkers (cortisol, immunoglobulin A, lysozyme) will be collected from every emergency health care worker who consents to participating in the study. Conclusion: This study will provide a point of care for the emergency health care workers’ stress situation every 5 years. Ethics: This protocol was registered in Clinical Trials under the identification NCT02401607 after the French Ethics Committee’s approval.

Highlights

Stress is a significant public health concern that can be self-evaluated using the job control demands model from Karasek
80% in the emergency health care workers’ population; power estimates will be provided based on 100 subjects included
Statistical analyses will be performed using the Stata software. This protocol seems innovative considering the lack of emergency health care workers in the SUMER study

Summary

Introduction

Stress is a significant public health concern that can be self-evaluated using the job control demands model from Karasek. Emergency health care workers are exposed to stress because of the intrinsic characteristics associated with the job (i.e., life-threatening emergencies, overcrowding, lack of bed spaces). These attributes have never been studied using the Karasek model. Departments will be conducted using a cohort of emergency health care workers. Four questionnaires before a control day and after a nightshift will be assessed every 5 years in the same emergency departments. Chronic stress at work is a significant public health problem increasing morbidity and mortality [1].

Results

Discussion

Conclusion