Chronotype and work shift in nursing workers of university hospitals - Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem

ABSTRACT

Objective:

To identify the predominant chronotype in nursing workers who work in surgical clinics of university hospitals and to verify the association with work shift.

Method:

Cross-sectional study, performed in surgical clinics of university hospitals in the Southern region of Brazil. The sample of 270 nursing workers answered questions of socio-occupational characterization, of health and the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire of Horne and Östberg. We performed a descriptive and bivariate analysis with the help of the SPSS software and confidence interval of 95%.

Results:

The indifferent chronotype predominated (45.2%). There were significant differences between occupational categories and variables “age” (p<0.001), “use of medication” (p=0.035) and “choice of work shift” (p=0.001). There was an association between the chronotype and the variables “work leave due to illness” (p=0.021), “children” (p=0.025), “use of medication” (p=0.018) and “work shift” (p=0.001).

Conclusion:

The chronotype remained indifferent, and the results confirmed association between chronotype and work shift.