Dispositional variations of positive action and feeling at work and its influence on mental health: Positive psychological capital as a predictor of common emotional disorder and suicidal ideation in physicians in Rio Grande do Norte

Abstract

Introduction: Workers' health, even though it is not a new theme with regard to the emotional condition of work; has observed, in the last five years, that the economic and social changes in the country have drawn the attention of Human Resources professionals and researchers to the growing trend of mental illness in the context of the relationship between the organization, the  work, individual and mental health. The search for quality of life at work and workers' mental health has become a recommendation not only for the Human Resources departments of organizations, but also a guideline for the World Health Organization (WHO). The situation is so serious that the WHO recommends that employers and managers adopt more programs to promote mental health in the workplace, as this can directly impact productivity and professional relationships in the workplace. Of the many variables aimed at assessing mental health at work, common emotional disorder and suicidal ideation are among the main causes-problems of sick leave (and death) worldwide. For this, in the face of such an urgent problem of solution, one of the theoretical perspectives of psychology that addresses reflections that are more concerned with inhibiting events and interventions than diagnostic ones, has been Positive Psychology. Objective: it is intended to verify the relationship between positive psychological capital at work, workers' mental health (specifically, anxiety, depression and stress and suicidal ideation) in the health area, exclusively in the health area. Method: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive, exploratory and correlational study with a quantitative focus, covering 410 physicians in the state of Rio Grande do Norte-RN in different specialties and with more than one year of training in the profession. The suicidal ideation scales, DASS-21 (anxiety, depression and stress), positive psychological capital at work scale and sociodemographic data were applied to physicians in the State of Rio Grande do Norte – RN individually, through an electronic form hosted on google.docs, hosted on the CRM-RN website. Results: It was observed that the scales used presented reliable psychometric indicators for a sample of physicians and that the hypothesis that positive psychological capital at work negatively influenced common emotional disorders (anxiety, depression and stress) and suicidal ideation was confirmed, as well as in the evaluation of frequencies at the low, moderate and high levels of these constructs,  That is, it was highlighted that the higher the level of psychological capital, the lower the level of common emotional disorder and suicidal ideation. Conclusion: Based on these findings, it is possible to affirm that positive psychological capital in the worker may be an important psychological construct for the recognition and maintenance of workers' mental health, capable of contributing to the psychological development of work as a protective factor for occupational health.

DOI: 10.56238/IIICongressMedicalNursing-004