Objective: To investigate factors associated with work ability among nursing professionals.
Participants: They comprised 514 nursing professionals (83.8% of the total number of workers) from a hospital in São Paulo, Brazil.
Methods: In 2009, we conducted a cross-sectional study that was a part of a 5-year planned cohort study initiated in 2008. We administered a comprehensive questionnaire to the participants in order to obtain data on their sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyles, and working conditions. The questionnaire also contained the Brazilian versions of the following: the Job Stress Scale (JSS), Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) Questionnaire, Work-Related Activities That May Contribute To Job-Related Pain and/or Injury (WRAPI), and Work Ability Index (WAI). The results were analyzed using descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate linear regression analyses.
Results: On the WAI, 74.9% of the workers obtained a score of over 40 points (score range 7-49); the mean score was 42.3 points (SD=4.5). The final multivariate model showed that lower WAI scores were related to the work-related outcome, which was work injury, and the following individual characteristics and working conditions: body mass index (p=0.001), sex (female; p=0.002), sedentariness (p < 0.001), time in the profession (p=0.005), social support at work (p=0.003), effort-reward ratio (p=0.001), violence at work (p=0.005), WRAPI score (p < 0.001), and work injuries (yes; p=0.001).
Conclusions: Various factors were associated with work ability. The results showed that a number of variables should be considered when planning and implementing actions to maintain or improve work ability among nursing professionals.