AUTHOR=Bouillon-Minois Jean-Baptiste , Trousselard Marion , Mulliez Aurélien , Adeyemi Oluwaseun John , Schmidt Jeannot , Thivel David , Ugbolue Ukadike Chris , Borel Marjolaine , Moustafa Farès , Vallet Guillaume T. , Clinchamps Maëlys , Zak Marek , Occelli Céline , Dutheil Frédéric 

TITLE=A cross-sectional study to assess job strain of emergency healthcare workers by Karasek questionnaire: The SEEK study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1043110

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1043110

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=Background: Emergency healthcare workers (eHCWs) are particularly at risk of stress, but data using the gold standard questionnaire of Karasek are scarce. We assessed the level of stress of eHCWs, and aimed to compare with general population.
Methods: Cross-sectional nationwide study in French Emergency Departments, using the job-content questionnaire of Karasek, compared with the 25 000 answers in French general population (controls from the SUMER study). Description of job demand, job control and social support were described as well as prevalence of jobstrain and isostrain. Putative factors were searched using mixed-method analysis
Results: 166 eHCWs (37.9±10.5 years old, 42% men) from five French Emergency Department were included: 53 emergency physicians and 104 emergency paramedics, compared to 25 000 workers with other occupations. Job-demand was the highest for physicians (28.3±3.3) and paramedics (25.9±3.8), compared to controls (36.0±7.2) (p<0.001). Job-control was the lowest for physicians (61.2±5.8) and paramedics (59.1±6.8), compared to controls (70.4±11.7) (p<0.001). Mean social support did not differ between groups (23.6±3.4 for physicians, 22.6±2.9 for paramedics, and 23.7±3.6 for controls). The prevalence of job-strain was massively higher for physicians (95.8%) and paramedics (84.8%), compared to controls (23.9%) (p<0.001), as well as for isostrain (45.1% for physicians, 56.8% for paramedics, and 14.3% for controls, p<0.001). We did not find any significant impact of sociodemographic on job control, job demand or social support.
Conclusion: eHCWs have a dramatic rate of jobstrain, necessitating urgent promotion of policy to take care of them.