Anxiety and depression among nursing professionals who work in surgical units

Abstract

This descriptive, cross-sectional, correlational study was performed with the objective to evaluate anxiety and depression among nursing professionals working in Surgical Units. Participants were 211 nursing professionals from eleven hospitals of Londrina-Paraná, Brazil. Data collection was performed between the months of April and November 2007, using a questionnaire for the socio-demographic characterization of the professionals and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Most participants were nursing aides (62.6%), female (86.7%), married (54.0%), and in average 40 years old. Overall, the workers average score for anxiety was 6.3 and 5.2 for depression in an interval from zero to 21. A statistically significant difference was found for the occurrence of anxiety for cases of holding two jobs and the type of institution (p<0.05) and for the occurrence of depression for cases of nurses holding two jobs (p<0.05).