Occupational health under a gender perspective: A study on recovery from work among Brazilian nurses

The study investigates the need for recovery from work considering both professional and domestic work among female nursing personnel. Eligible participants were those directly providing patient care and this included nurses, nursing assistants and nurses' aides in three public hospitals in Brazil. Data collection was based on a comprehensive instrument that considered the participants working arrangements including those from a second job. Four independent variables were analyzed: (i) the professional work hours per week, (ii) the domestic work hours per week, (iii) the total work load, which equals to the sum of professional and domestic work hours per week, and (iv) the housework overload, which takes in consideration the number of potential beneficiaries of the housework and the person's level of responsibility in relation to four basic household tasks. The recovery variable was assessed by the Need for Recovery From Work scale. Logistic regression analysis were carried out to test the association between each independent variable and the need for recovery from work. The study sample comprised 1122 workers. Three out of four variables were significantly associated to the need for recovery from work, after adjustment for socio-demographic data and variables related to work and health. The OR and 95%CI were 1.629 (1.178-2.252), 1.428 (1.016-2.007) and 1.596 (1.173-2.172) for domestic work hours, total work load and housework overload, respectively. The non-superposition of results concerning the two variables related to housework shows that these variables comprise different aspects of work in a home environment. Results suggests that the need for recovery after work reflects not only what have just happened in the professional sphere, but also aspects of quotidian life, such as the gender division of domestic work. These results can subsidize discussions on the impact of excessive work hours under a gender viewpoint.