{"title":"Aspects of telework associated with mental distress among labor court workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.","authors":"Francielle Barbosa Prado, Sergio Roberto de Lucca","doi":"10.47626/1679-4435-2025-1336","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>The abrupt imposition of teleworking during the COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges that negatively affected the mental health of workers.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To identify aspects of telework and individual characteristics associated with mental distress among Brazilian labor court staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This cross-sectional study included 1,028 workers. Independent variables were assessed using a sociodemographic and occupational questionnaire and a Likert scale instrument to measure participant perceptions about telework. Mental distress was assessed using the Self-Reporting Questionnaire. The relationship between variables was assessed with Pearson's chi-square test or Fisher's exact test. The association between the independent variables and the outcome was analyzed through logistic regression.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Mental distress was identified in 37.3% of the participants. The variables associated with the outcome were: women, not living with a partner, living with a care-dependent person, agreeing that telework has led to increased family conflict and loneliness. Mental distress was also associated with neutrality or agreement with statements on: difficulty with self-discipline, difficulty disconnecting from work, and feelings of guilt.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The characteristics of individual workers and of telework are potential contributing factors to mental distress among teleworkers, indicating the relevance of preventive initiatives for this population.</p>","PeriodicalId":38694,"journal":{"name":"Revista Brasileira de Medicina do Trabalho","volume":"23 2","pages":"e20251336"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12443373/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Revista Brasileira de Medicina do Trabalho","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.47626/1679-4435-2025-1336","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/4/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"Medicine","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction: The abrupt imposition of teleworking during the COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges that negatively affected the mental health of workers.
Objectives: To identify aspects of telework and individual characteristics associated with mental distress among Brazilian labor court staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: This cross-sectional study included 1,028 workers. Independent variables were assessed using a sociodemographic and occupational questionnaire and a Likert scale instrument to measure participant perceptions about telework. Mental distress was assessed using the Self-Reporting Questionnaire. The relationship between variables was assessed with Pearson's chi-square test or Fisher's exact test. The association between the independent variables and the outcome was analyzed through logistic regression.
Results: Mental distress was identified in 37.3% of the participants. The variables associated with the outcome were: women, not living with a partner, living with a care-dependent person, agreeing that telework has led to increased family conflict and loneliness. Mental distress was also associated with neutrality or agreement with statements on: difficulty with self-discipline, difficulty disconnecting from work, and feelings of guilt.
Conclusions: The characteristics of individual workers and of telework are potential contributing factors to mental distress among teleworkers, indicating the relevance of preventive initiatives for this population.