Prevalence of occupational stress in health care personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Occupational stress has been exacerbated in health care personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic, which can harm the health of professionals, managers and the population.

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of occupational stress in professionals of the Family Health Strategy of a Health District in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study carried out with 105 professionals from the Family Health Strategy teams of three Family Health Units in a Health District in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. A questionnaire with sociodemographic and work information and the Work Stress Scale were applied. Numerical stress values were categorized, from the average, into low and high stress levels. Measures of central tendency and bivariate analysis between stress and other variables were calculated.

Results: The high level of stress presented a prevalence of 46.7%, with the following most punctuated TSE stressors: lack of qualifications, few prospects for career growth, deficiency in the disclosure of decisions, discrimination at work and lack of autonomy.

Conclusions: The prevalence of a high level of occupational stress among health professionals at Family Health Units reached 46.7% of the sample studied; a fact that deserves awareness on the part of managers regarding the promotion and protection of the health of health care personnel.