Sociodemographic and occupational factors associated with anxiety symptoms in Community Health AgentsAbstract
Community Health Agents (CHAs) play a crucial role in assisting the population. Due to the complexity of functions and situations to which they are exposed, they can present with emotional problems. The aim of this article was to verify the prevalence of anxiety symptoms and the association with sociodemographic and occupational factors in community health agents. It is a cross-sectional and populational study that used a questionnaire to collect data on the sociodemographic, economic and occupational conditions and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Descriptive analyses and multiple Poisson regression were performed with robust variation, considering a 5% significance level (p <0.05) for the final model. A total of 673 community health agents were evaluated. The prevalence of anxiety symptoms in the STAI-State was 47.4% and in the STAI-trait, 42.4%. The time working as a CHA longer than five years was associated with the STAI-state (p<0.001) and the STAI-trait (p=0.018), where as the female gender was associated with the STAI-trait (p=0.011). A high prevalence of anxiety symptoms in community health agents was verified. Health promotion strategies aimed at improving and monitoring the mental health of these workers by reducing anxiety disorders is required.
Key words: Anxiety; Community Health Workers; Occupational health; Primary Health Care