Stress and substance abuse among workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in an intensive care unit: A cross-sectional study

• Published in: PloS one 2022-02, Vol.17 (2), p.e0263892
• Main Authors: Vinicius Santinelli Pestana, Diego, Raglione, Dante, Junior, Luiz Dalfior, Liberatti, Caroline de Souza Pereira, Braga, Elisangela Camargo, Ezequiel, Vitor Augusto de Lima, Alves, Adriana da Silva, Mauro, Juliana Gil, Dias, José Omar de Araújo, Moreira, Paulo Thadeu Fantinato, Madureira, Bruno Del Bianco, Paiva, Lilian Petroni, de Lucena, Bruno Melo Nóbrega, Junior, João Manoel Silva, Malbouisson, Luiz Marcelo Sá
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Alcohol abuse; Anesthesiology; Biology and Life Sciences; Brazil; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - psychology; Critical care medicine; Cross-Sectional Studies; Disorders; Drug abuse; Drug use; Epidemics; Female; Health aspects; Health Personnel - psychology; Hospitals; Human resource management; Humans; Intensive care; Intensive Care Units; Job stress; Logistic Models; Male; Medical personnel; Medicine and Health Sciences; Multivariate Analysis; Normal distribution; Occupational exposure; Pandemics; Post traumatic stress disorder; Prevalence; Professionals; Psychological aspects; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Risk factors; Signs and symptoms; Social aspects; Social interactions; Social Sciences; Stress; Stress, Psychological - psychology; Substance abuse; Substance use disorder; Substance-Related Disorders - psychology; Surveys; Tobacco; Variables; Workers; Workload
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263892

Professionals working in intensive care units (ICUs) during the COVID-19 pandemic have been exposed to stressful situations and increased workload. The association between symptoms of traumatic stress disorders, substance abuse and personal/occupational characteristics of Brazilian COVID-19-ICU workers is still to be addressed. Our aim was to evaluate the prevalence of those conditions and to find if those associations exist. In this observational, single-center, cross-sectional study, all professionals working in a COVID-19 ICU were invited to fill an anonymous form containing screening tools for traumatic stress disorders and substance abuse, and a section with questions regarding personal and occupational information. Three hundred seventy-six ICU professionals participated. Direct exposure to patients infected by COVID-19, history of relatives infected by COVID-19, and sex (female) were significantly associated with signs and symptoms of traumatic stress disorders. 76.5% of the participants had scores compatible with a diagnosis of traumatic stress disorders. Moreover, the prevalence of scores suggestive of Tobacco and Alcohol abuse were 11.7% and 24.7%, respectively. ICU workers had significantly elevated scores on both screening forms. Providing psycho-social support to ICU professionals may prevent future problems with traumatic stress disorders or substance abuse.