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Abstract Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has caused profound changes in nursing work, with increased work overload, lack of inputs, new flows, and changes in the organization of nursing work, which may pose an increased risk for mental disorders, especially depression. Objective To estimate the prevalence of depressive symptoms and associated factors among nursing workers. Methods Cross-sectional study with a random sample (n=317 of primary care and medium complexity nursing workers from three municipalities in Bahia, in 2021. Data collection consisted of applying a standardized questionnaire to collect sociodemographic, occupational, and health data in a face-to-face interview. The PHQ-9 assessed the depressive symptoms; the PHQ-9 was used. Analytical procedures included bivariate analyses and Poisson Regression with robust variance. Results The global prevalence of depression among nursing workers was 27.1%. Nurses had a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms (34.4%) than nursing technicians (22.4%). The nurse’s occupation was associated with depressive symptoms, with a 54% higher prevalence (RP=1.54 95% CI 1.06-2.22) concerning nursing techniques. Other demographic factors were not associated with the outcome. Occupational factors such as exposure to situations of aggression and threats carried out by companions (RP=1.85; 95%CI 1.27-2.70), bosses and co-workers (RP=1.82 95%CI 1.20-2.77), and violence at work (PR=1.76; 95%CI 1.20-2.56) were strongly associated with depressive symptoms. Discussion and conclusion The high prevalence of depressive symptoms among the nursing team reflects the context experienced by the health sector in Brazil during the pandemic. Stressful situations and exposure to violence, contribute to increased psychological morbidity among health workers, requiring measures to reduce identified exposure situations.
Heliotério et al. (Mon,) studied this question.