Investigating the Cognitive and Psycho-social Consequences Related to Shift Work: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Nurses

Introduction: Shift work combined with the nature of duty in occupations such as nursing can lead to the spread of psychological consequences and disorders in nurses. The aim of this study was investigating the cognitive and psycho-social consequences associated with shift work in nurses. Material and Methods: This study was performed in 7 hospitals in 2023. The study population was 636 nurses. Data collection tool in this study was part of a comprehensive questionnaire that translated and modified by Choobineh et al. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS software v. 22.0, and significance level in this study was considered 0.05. Results: Out of 636 studied nurses, 474 were shift workers and 162 were day workers. The means of age and work experience of the study population were 37.26±5.25 years and 11.60±4.78 years, respectively. The results showed that the prevalence of psychological consequences in the shift workers group was significantly more than day work nurses (p<0.05). The highest prevalence of cognitive and psycho-social consequences in shift work nurses were related to fatigue (39.66%), insomnia (36.08) and decreased sleep quality (35.44%), respectively. Conclusion: The findings of this study indicated that the parameters of the shift work system, working hours per week, education and hospital ward are the most important factors affecting the prevalence of cognitive and psycho-social consequences and sleep disorders in the nurses. Therefore, it is suggested that a separate program should be designed and implemented for each hospital ward to control and manage the psychological consequences associated with shift work in nurses.