THE MENTAL HEALTH OF DOCTORS AND THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

It aimed to describe the risk of mental illness of physicians working in health services, considering the COVID-19 pandemic, using the Psychodynamics of Work as a reference. The research was descriptive in nature, with a quantitative approach, with a population of 54,393 doctors working in the state of Minas Gerai, with a calculated sample of 401 subjects. The analysis was performed using uni and bivariate statistics. The results showed, on average, most of the constructs evaluated critically: organization and working conditions, socio-professional relationships, physical and emotional costs and professional exhaustion, and the cognitive cost construct was severely manifested. The satisfactory constructs were: professional fulfillment, freedom of expression, recognition for work, psychological and social harm and defense strategies. By relating the risks of illness with the demographic and functional variables of the study, it was concluded that physicians who live with their spouse and those who have more professional experience have been dealing more satisfactorily with adverse work situations in this period of pandemic.