1 Suicidal ideation and chronotype assessment in nurses and police oicers Verônica de Medeiros Alves I , Mayra Bruna de Farias Santos I , Layse Mayane Silva Nascimento I , Gicilene Cavalcante Ferro I , Lucas Kayzan Barbosa da Silva I , Fabian Eloi Tenório II , Antônio E. Nardi III DOI: 10.5935/MedicalExpress.2015.03.05 ORIGINAL RESEARCH I Federal University of Alagoas, Arapiraca, Alagoas, Brazil II Military Battalion, Municipality of Arapiraca, Alagoas, Brazil III Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Institute of Psychiatry, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil BACKGROUND: Nurses and police oicers are professionals that work in shifts and have jobs that require attention and responsibility. They work under conditions that can cause stress, anxiety and changes in sleep patterns. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to identify symptoms of anxiety and depression, chronotype and the presence of suicidal ideations in nurses and police oicers in the city of Arapiraca/Alagoas, Brazil. METHODS: This is a descriptive and quantitative study. The interviews were conducted using (i) identiication records and general data, (ii) the Beck Anxiety Inventory, (iii) the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale and (iv) the Horne-Östberg Questionnaire. RESULTS: Fifty-three nurses and 111 police oicers participated in the research. Nurses and police oicers exhibited indiferent to moderate matutinal chronotypes. Most of the nurses and police oicers reported minimal to light levels of anxiety. Nurses and police oicers presented elevated risk for depression. Five nurses and six police oicers had considered attempting suicide at the time of the research. There were no signiicant diferences between the study groups with respect to anxiety and depression symptoms, chronotype and suicidal ideations. CONCLUSION: The nurses and police oicers examined presented high risk for symptoms of anxiety and depression; a considerable number of nurses and oicers had lifetime suicidal ideations. Implementation of preventive measures is necessary for the early diagnosis of anxiety and depressive disorders in order to prevent complications, including possible suicide. KEYWORDS: Nursing, Police, Anxiety, Depression, Suicidal ideation, Chronobiology phenomena. Alves VM, Santos MBF, Nascimento LMS, Ferro GC, Silva LKB, Tenório FE, Nardi AE. Suicidal ideation and chronotype assessment in nurses and police oicers. MEDICALEXPRESS. 2015;2(3):M150305 Received for Publication on April 25, 2015; First review on May 4, 2015; Accepted for publication on May 11, 2015 E-mail: veronica.ufal.arapiraca@gmail.com ■ INTRODUCTION Conditions in the workplace influence workers’ health; these changes may generate a conflict in the relationship between the bodily functions and work requirements, resulting in alterations in health. 1 One of the ways of organizing work is through the introduction of night shift work; this organization is performed in order to meet the demands of the population and establish uninterrupted services to the community. 1 Work performed in shifts, mainly at night, may harm the health of workers from the perspective of chronobiology, because damage can be caused by Copyright © 2015 MEDICALEXPRESS. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution Non-Commercial License (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. temporary changes in organic function. 2 Fast-paced work, excessive journeys and work shifts are factors that can induce occupational stress. 3 Chronotype relates to the adaptability and performance of daily activities when changes in sleeping habits cause deprivation or deficit of this important functional state. 4 The human population can be divided into three basic chronotypes: matutinal, vespertine (both of which can be extreme or moderate) and indifferent. 5 Work performed in shifts relates not only to the emergence of sleep disorders, but also to increased daytime drowsiness and decreased alertness. The effects of these changes in the sleep-wake cycle can cause an increased risk for negative outcomes such as accidents at work and impairment of the quality of life. 6,7