Factors related to sickness absenteeism among Brazilian Nursing professionals before, during, and after the pandemic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.7696.4624Keywords:
Absenteeism; Occupational Health; Nursing; COVID-19; Pandemics; Personnel ManagementAbstract
Objective: to identify factors related to sick leave absenteeism among Brazilian nursing professionals before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: a cross-sectional study involving nursing professionals from medical, surgical, intensive care, and adult emergency units, with absences recorded between 2019 and 2022. Sociodemographic, occupational, and absence-related variables were evaluated. Descriptive statistical analysis, absenteeism rate calculation, and Poisson Regression with robust variance were performed, considering p≤0.05. Results: a sample of 839 professionals, with 7,375 absences, was analyzed. Sick leave absenteeism resulted in an average of 54.1±2.5 lost days (p<0.001) and was more prevalent among professionals aged 41 years or younger (31.8%; p=0.003). The intensive care (31.3%) and medical inpatient (27.5%) units reported the highest number of absences. The highest absenteeism rate (9.9%) occurred in July 2020. The risk of illness was associated with male gender (p≤0.001) and intensive care unit work (p=0.007) in the 1st period; being single (p=0.002) and being a nursing technician (p=0.022) in the 2nd period; and working in intensive care (p=0.003) and as a nursing technician (p≤0.001) in the 3rd period. Conclusion: after the end of the pandemic, absenteeism rates did not return to pre-pandemic levels. COVID-19 and musculoskeletal diseases were the most prevalent causes. It was possible to investigate the factors related to absenteeism.
Downloads
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
RLAE’s authorship concept is based on the substantial contribution by each of the individuals listed as authors, mainly in terms of conceiving and planning the research project, collecting or analyzing and interpreting data, writing and critical review. Indication of authors’ names under the article title is limited to six. If more, authors are listed on the online submission form under Acknowledgements. The possibility of including more than six authors will only be examined on multicenter studies, considering the explanations presented by the authors.Including names of authors whose contribution does not fit into the above criteria cannot be justified. Those names can be included in the Acknowledgements section.
Authors are fully responsible for the concepts disseminated in their manuscripts, which do not necessarily reflect the editors’ and editorial board’s opinion.
