Overtime and Depression: Is There a Link?
Baku, August 14 (AZERTAC). It`s no secret that nurses have demanding jobs: they are responsible for the most fragile human lives on a daily basis, and busy schedules and long shifts can certainly wear on them physically. But can the combination of long work hours and high demands of their job also contribute to the chances that they might develop depression? New research out of Japan suggests that it can.
In a study published in the August 2013 issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (JOEM), researchers Takashi Amagasa, MD, MPH, and Takeo Nakayama, MD, PhD, sought to clarify how long working hours affect the likelihood of current and future depression.
Although the study did not focus on nurses or healthcare professionals in particular, the authors see the findings as relevant across all industries, especially in jobs that are highly demanding. Their findings also add to the results of earlier studies on nurses and depression.
Combating depression can be a long battle, and it all starts with awareness and removing the stigma from mental health issues.
“Nurses can freely talk about a diagnosis of osteoarthritis or hypertension but would never openly feel comfortable talking about being `depressed,`” Letvak said. “I think, too, that managers must be provided training on how to help nurses. Often they know a nurse is struggling--more errors, distracted, mood is different--yet they may ignore it for fear of getting into the `personal life` of their nurses vs. offering support and assistance.”
Both Letvak and the JOEM study authors agree that more research in the area of depression and overtime needs to be completed before we can have a full understanding of the link.
“Few studies have investigated the relationship between changes in work stress factors and depression by repeatedly measuring work stress factors as predictive factors for depression,” Amagasa and Nakayama noted.
Other news in this section
