Investigation of absenteeism among public healthcare professionals in Adana city center

Objective: The health sector is one of the basic sectors for both society and economy. Health workers are highly susceptible to diseases because they are exposed to risk factors that threaten occupational and non-occupational health. For this reason, the health sector is one of the sectors with the highest absenteeism. Our research was planned to explain the frequency of absenteeism and presenteeism among public health care workers in Adana city center, the most common causes, and differences related to sociodemographic characteristics, working life and health level. Materials and Method: This study is a cross-sectional type of study covering those who provide services in public health institutions in Adana. Participation in the research is on a voluntary basis and questionnaires were applied by interviewing 602 health workers online and face-to-face between September and November 2021. With the questionnaire, the absenteeism and presenteeism status of the participants were questioned. Frequency tables, cross tables, Chi-square test, Kolmogorov-Spirnov, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis test, Spearman correlation test were used to analyze the distribution. Results were expressed as mean±standard deviation, min-max, number, and percentage, and cases where the p value was <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: The mean age of the study group was 38.3±9.9 years, 67.6% were female, 68.9% were married, 51.7% were university graduates. 36.9% of the participants are nurse-midwife, 31.0% are physician-dentist, 32.1% are assistant health personnel. In our study, the absenteeism rate was found to be 2.45% and the incidence rate of absentism was 40.0%. The most common cause of absenteeism is the Covid-19 infection with 41,9%. The percentage of the participants' missed work time due to health is 1.57±6.90, the percentage of decrease in productivity while working due to health is 25.11±28.55, the percentage of decrease in general work productivity due to health is 26.03±28.95, deterioration in activities of daily life due to health the percentage is 32.24±31.11. A statistically significant relationship was found between absenteeism and gender, marital status, monthly income, physical activity, institution, occupation, working style (day shift or night shift), overtime, work accident, musculo-skeletal disease and chronic disease history in public health professionals in Adana. A statistically significant relationship was found between presenteeism and gender, monthly income, age, occupation, working style (day shift or night shift), number of shifts, work accident, history of musculoskeletal disease and absenteeism. Conclusion: Protective measures against Covid-19 infection should be increased in healthcare workers. It is necessary to create a better physical working environment to reduce absenteeism and presenteeism. It should be ensured that healthcare workers feel comfortable and safe in their work environment.