Physical and psychological fatigue, and work performance among Brazilian workers during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic in Brazil

ABSTRACT

The lockdown requirement, caused by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), led to people having to follow a work from home regime. This pandemic made workers more vulnerable, causing emotional disorders that impacted their work performance. This online survey aimed to identify the psychological and emotional impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Brazilian workers, testing the predictive effect between physical and emotional fatigue factors, and expectations about their performance. The participants were 153 workers from different sectors or departments of the University of Brasilia following the work from home modality. To achieve the main aim of this study, the questionnaire ‘Feeling Fatigue Scale’ by Yoshitake, and the nine items of the ‘Achievement’ factor of the ‘Well-being at Work’ questionnaire by Paschoal and Tamayowere applied. Study data were collected between February and August 2020. Statistically significant differences were found between cognitive aspects (difficulties in attention to work, p = .001,) expectations regarding performance (p = .035), and the impact of fatigue on the body (p = .021) when comparing the profile of workers from the areas of exact sciences, health, and social and human sciences. Workers who reported more extreme difficulty in attention had lower expectations regarding the performance achieved in the exercise of their duties (R² adjusted = .271, p < .001). The results demonstrate the importance of planning public policies aimed at promoting mental and physical health at work.

KEYWORDS:

• Physical and psychological fatigue
• work performance
• mental health
• Brazil

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Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.