Occupational risks and illness among mental health workers

DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/19820194201400088 Universidade Federal do Piauí, Teresina, PI, Brazil. Escola de Enfermagem, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. Conflicts of interest: There are no conflicts of interest to declare. Abstract Objective: To analyze the association between illness and occupational risks among mental health workers. Methods: An epidemiological cross-sectional study was conducted with 163 professionals who were members of a multidisciplinary mental health team at a psychiatric hospital, split into two groups: those who had and those who had not taken medical leaves of absence. Data were collected using a questionnaire examining the studied variables and by accessing records of medical leaves of absence. Results: The identified occupational risks were primarily exposure to bacteria and virus (87.12%), tobacco smoke (82.82%), noise (81.60%), adopting inadequate body posture due to ergonomic inadequacies (72.39%) and stress (71.17%). Approximately 64.42% of workers became ill during the period of the study and 270 diagnoses were recorded. Conclusion: More than half of the mental health workers presented health problems, however, only a small portion of their diagnoses was included on the list of occupational diseases. There were statistically significant associations among the variables illness, chemical risk and psychosocial risk.