RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LIFE SKILLS, ANXIETY, AND DEPRESSION IN INTENSIVE CARE UNIT (ICU) NURSES

Abstract

Introduction: Work has played a central role in the construction of individuals' health. And disorders such as anxiety and depression can cause damage to people's lives as a whole and significantly affect the worker. Therefore, programs for mental health prevention, such as the development of life skills, can contribute to the improvement and prevention of these skills. Objective: to describe sociodemographic characteristics, health/disease conditions, symptoms of Anxiety and Depression and to associate them with the VH of ICU nurses from a tertiary hospital in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Method: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study with a survey design and correlation of variables. All nurses from the Intensive Care Units (ICU) of a high-complexity hospital were invited to participate in the research, who agreed to participate and answer the following assessment instruments: 1) Protocol with sociodemographic information and health/disease conditions; 2) Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale - HADS; 3) Life Skills Scale (EHV). The exploratory analysis of the data included mean, median, and standard deviation and variation for continuous and numerical variables, and proportion for categorical variables. All tests were two-tailed and P values < 0.05 were considered significant. Results: The study population consisted of individuals aged between 23 and 43 years, with a predominance of females. Most of those evaluated indicated no health problems. Significant symptoms of anxiety and depression were found in about one third of the sample and eight of the ten HV in interval two, with a median of 4, i.e., good HV. Conclusion: The sample is characterized by a group of nurses with a lower presence of significant symptoms of Anxiety and Depression when compared to similar studies and good Life Skills. In the comparative analysis between groups with and without depression, older women with a mean age of (35 years) showed depression and an association with poor life ability to communicate effectively.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56238/sevened2024.042-006