Psychosocial stress at work in pregnant health workers from Havana city, Cuba 2005-2006

Abstract

Objectives. Evaluate the level of psychosocial stress at work according to the models of demand-control of the work tension and imbalance effort recompense; and to determine associations between the psychosocial stress at work and pregnancy complications. Material and methods. We performed a prospective cohort study with 78 pregnant health workers from the municipality of the Havana city, Cuba, in the period 2005-2006. Those interviewed responded a version to Spanish of the Job Content Questionnaire and of the Effort Reward Imbalance Questionnaire. Results. The pregnant workers referred high work tension and they recognized that their work generated those discharges psychological demands and that they considered its work as of high effort extrinsic and low recompense that is the reason of more probability of generating work stress. It was that the threat of childbirth preterm, of abortion and the time of work during the pregnancy were associated with high levels of psychosocial stress at work. Conclusions. There is a high level of stress at work on pregnancy health workers from the Havana city.