Last update:
29-Sep-2023

OBJECTIVE The assessment of negative emotional states of depression, anxiety and stress of health professionals working in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) and the exploration of the correlation with the coping strategies.

METHOD An anonymous and self-completed questionnaire was used to collect demographic-social characteristics, Depression-Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and the Ways of Coping Questionnaire. The questionnaire was completed by 112 health professionals (doctors, midwives, nurses) working in NICU in public hospital institutions.

RESULTS The 25.9% of the participants faced at least mild depression, 40.2% at least mild anxiety and 28.8% at least mild stress. Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that strategies of "prayer/daydream", "prayer", and "resignation" were the most commonly used by the participants and were statistically positively associated with depression, anxiety and stress. Also, there was statistical significance between female gender and strategies of "positive re-evaluation", "seeking social support", "prayer/daydream", "prayer", "searching of divine intervention", "avoidance/escape", "resignation", and "denial". The participants with midwifery specialty employed more often strategies of "positive re-evaluation", "problem solving", "prayer/daydream", "prayer", "searching of divine intervention", and "denial". At the end, there was a statistically significant association between work experience in NICU's and the strategies of "prayer/daydream" and "denial".

CONCLUSIONS The study of emotional status of health professionals and the ways of coping strategies that they use to handle stressful situations is of high importance, since it can strengthen the existing knowledge on stress management and determine the policies that must be developed for improvement of emotional disturbances.

Key words: Anxiety, Coping strategies, Depression, NICU's, Stress.