Alterations in psychosocial health of people affected by asbestos poisoning

Résumé 0

OBJECTIVE:To analyze the state of psychosocial and mental health ofprofessionals affected by asbestos.METHODS:A cross-sectional study was conducted with 110 professionalsworking in the Ferrolterra region of Spain, who were affected by asbestospoisoning. This group was compared with a group of 70 shipyard workerswith no manifestation of work-related diseases. All the participants were malewith a mean age of 67 years. This study was conducted in 2013, betweenJanuary and June, and used the SCL-90 questionnaire by Derogatis as itsprimary measure for research. This questionnaire consists of 9 variablesthat measure psychosomatic symptoms. In addition, an overall index ofpsychosomatic gravity was calculated. The participants were also asked twoquestions concerning their overall perception of feeling good. Data wereanalyzed by ANOVA and logistic regression.RESULTS:Participants affected by asbestos poisoning showed highoccurrence rates of psychological health variables such as somatization,obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility,phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, psychoticism, and global severity index.CONCLUSIONS:Social interaction as a differentiating factor betweenworkers affected by work-related chronic syndromes as compared to healthyparticipants will possibly aid in the development of intervention programsby improving the social network of affected individuals.