Introduction Health care professionals, particularly intensive care teams, are exposed to psychosocial constraints. This study aims to identify socio-demographic and occupational determinants of work-related stress and workplace harassment.

Methods A three months cross-sectional exhaustive study conducted among medical and paramedical staffs of intensive care units in two university hospitals in the centre of Tunisia. Four validated scales were used (Karaseck’s Job Content questionnaire, Negative Acts Questionnaire, Rosenberg, Beck and Hamilton Anxiety scale).

Results Moral harassment was objective among 38.33% of caregivers and 15% of them were in situation of job strain. Moreover, 61.7% of them were depressed, anxiety disorders were detected in 49.9% of cases, and low or very low self-esteem was noted among 40% of respondents. According to multivariate analysis, job strain was correlated with young age (p=0.005) and shorter work seniority (p=0.001). Workplace harassment was more prevalent among females (p=0.009), resident physicians (p=0.021), those affected to atypical schedules (p=0.008), anxious subjects (p=0.004) and those with low to moderate self-esteem (p=0.002).

Discussion Psychological and social constraints among intensive care staff should be preventive in order not to affect health and wellbeing of caregiver or security or quality of care.