Social support and suicidality during the COVID-19 pandemic among Brazilian healthcare workers: a longitudinal assessment of an online repeated cross-sectional survey.

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.