Association between job strain and psychological distress: Results from five epidemiological studies in Brazil

In the recent years, in Brazil, several studies evaluated the

association between work psychosocial aspects and psychological

distress (PD). The Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) was used to measure

the work psychosocial dimensions. Objective: to evaluate the validity

of JCQ in predicting psychological distress among workers from

different occupational groups. Methodology: Five epidemiological

cross-sectional studies were carried out in populations from the State

of Bahia, Brazil: one population-based study (a representative sample

of Feira de Santana City; 1,311 workers) and four different

occupational groups studies: teachers (808), professors (314), dentists

(130) and nurses (502). The population-based study compared formal and

informal workers. Similar methodology and procedures were used in all

four studies. SRQ-20 was used to measure psychological distress.

Results: A similar pattern of the association between job strain and

psychological distress was observed. Low decision latitude was

associated with higher psychological distress prevalence. High

psychological demand was associated with higher psychological disorder

prevalence. In all studies, workers in high strain situation presented

the highest psychological distress prevalence. Considering low strain

quadrant as the reference group, the prevalence ratio ranged from 1.39

to 2.32, after controlling to confounders using regression logistic.

Workers in the active job quadrant also presented high prevalence of

PD. Psychological demand was strongly associated to psychological

distress. Otherwise, decision latitude, as an isolated indicator,

wasn't associated to psychological distress in two studies. Findings

suggest that JCQ is a good instrument to predict negative effect on

worker's mental health.