Correlatos psicológicos de cuidadores formais de pessoas com deficiência mental: amostra portuguesa

Luís Martins; Marina Cunha; Daniela Guerreiro; Mariana Marques

doi:10.7342/ismt.rpics.2015.1.1.13

Authors

Luís Martins Instituto Superior Miguel Torga, Coimbra, Portugal
Marina Cunha Instituto Superior Miguel Torga, Coimbra, Portugal http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5957-1903
Daniela Guerreiro Instituto Superior Miguel Torga, Coimbra, Portugal https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8333-7711
Mariana Marques Instituto Superior Miguel Torga, Coimbra, Portugal http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7856-280X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7342/ismt.rpics.2015.1.1.13

Keywords:

Professionals, Intellectual disability, Portugal, Psychological correlates, Descriptive study

Abstract

Aims: Daily work with people with mental disabilities is extremely demanding, both physically and psychologically. This study aims to characterize different workers of institutions that deliver care to people with intellectual disabilities regarding their stress vulnerability, personality type, coping strategies, and psychopathological symptoms and explore associations between these variables and some sociodemographic and professionals variables. Method: 68 professionals from institutions that work with people with mental disabilities, aged between 19 to 62 years (M = 36.3; SD = 11.65), answered a sociodemographic questionnaire, the 23-Stress Vulnerability Questionnaire (23-QVS), the Eysenck Personality Inventory-12 (EPI-12), the Brief Cope, and the Brief Symptoms Inventory (BSI). Results: In this sample of workers, higher levels of stress vulnerability were associated with higher levels of neuroticism and psychopathological symptoms. Women presented higher levels of somatization, younger professionals, and with less education were more vulnerable to stress. Work overload was associated with stress vulnerability and to psychopathological symptoms. Conclusions: This study confirms that workers of institutions that receive people with intellectual disabilities present higher levels of stress vulnerability and a higher risk of developing psychopathological symptoms. It is urgent to implement intervention measures (preventive and/or therapeutic) to relieve these professionals' stress, improving their mental health. It seems that workers with higher levels of neuroticism might benefit more from these interventions.

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