Social support and suicidality during the COVID-2019 pandemic among Brazilian health care workers: longitudinal assessment of a repeated cross-sectional online survey

Diaz A.P.; Pinto A.B.; Araujo M.I.C.; Joaquim R.M.; Costa D.S.; Serpa A.L.O.; Pisani A.R.; Conwell Y.; Miranda D.M.; Malloy-Diniz L.F.; da Silva A.G.

Social support and suicidality during the COVID-2019 pandemic among Brazilian health care workers: longitudinal assessment of a repeated cross-sectional online survey

item.page.type

Artigo

Date

2024

item.page.ispartof

Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry

item.page.citationsscopus

0

Authors

Diaz A.P.
Pinto A.B.
Araujo M.I.C.
Joaquim R.M.
Costa D.S.
Serpa A.L.O.
Pisani A.R.
Conwell Y.
Miranda D.M.
Malloy-Diniz L.F.
da Silva A.G.

Abstract

© 2024, Associacao Brasileira de Psiquiatria. All rights reserved.Objective: The risk of suicide is higher among health care workers than other workers. This study investigated the association between social support and suicidal ideation and behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic among Brazilian health care workers. Methods: This study used data from 10,885 respondents to the first (time point 1 – between May and June of 2020) and second (time point 2 – between December 2020 and February 2021) cross-sectional online surveys about mental health and quality of life among Brazilian health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The relationship between social support as the independent variable (time point 1) and suicidal ideation and behavior as the outcomes (time point 2) was investigated through logistic regression analysis. Results: Greater social support was associated with a significantly lower risk of reporting suicidal ideation and behavior in the month prior to follow-up assessment (adjusted OR: 0.71, 95%CI 0.66-0.76 and adjusted OR 0.61, 95%CI 0.54-0.68, respectively). These associations were independent of sex, age, feelings of loneliness, and self-reported psychiatric disorders. Conclusion: Social support is associated with a lower risk of suicidality among health care workers, and its protective role appears more closely related to suicidal behavior.