Estresse em Agentes Comunitárias de Saúde do extremo sul do Brasil

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the stress and examine its association with individual factors and related to the work of Community Health Workers in the cities of the 21st Health Region of Rio Grande do Sul. With this purpose it was developed a research using the epidemiological approach and cross-sectional study, between March of 2016 and April of 2017, with self-applied questionnaire to 599 Community Health Workers of 21 cities in Rio Grande do Sul - Amaral Ferrador, Arroio do Padre, Arroio Grande, Canguçu, Cerrito, Chuí, Cristal, Herval, Jaguarão, Morro Redondo, Pedras Altas, Pedro Osório, Pelotas, Pinheiro Machado, Piratini, Rio Grande, Santa Vitória do Palmar, Santana da Boa Vista, São José do Norte, São Lourenço do Sul e Turuçu. This volume is composed of three parts: the Research Project, qualified in June 21st 2018; the Research report; and Two articles. Thefirstarticle “Stress and factors related to Community Health Workers of cities in the extreme South of Brazil”, identifies the prevalence of stress between the workers with Lipp’s Inventory of Stress Symptoms for Adults and evaluates their associations to the work context and individual characteristics of CHW with a hierarchical analysis in three levels with Poisson regression and robust adjustment of variance. It was identified the prevalence of stress in 48,5% (IC 95% 44,5-52,5), and in the multivariated analysis the stress was significantly higher between the female CHW, that make constant use of medication, that did not participate in the introductory training, that suffer violence in the work context, that have problems with the work content, that do not have good interpersonal relation ships at work, with no feedback at work and with work overload. The second article “The Dimensions of stress in the work of Community Health Workers of 21 cities in the extreme South of Brazil”, evaluated the stress from the perception of the stress experienced at work and its possible dimensions, analyzes the association of the stress identified with individual characteristics of the workers and of their job. The stress was measured with the tools Global Level of Stress and Stress Questionnaire in Health Professionals, adapted to the work of the Community Health Worker; the identified stress averages were compared using the t-Teste, ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis test, when it was necessary. According to the analysis of Global Stress, to 39% of Community Health Workers, their job was highly stressful and to 40% it was moderately stressful. The stress in dealing with users; and with career and remuneration was superior than global stress, and inferior than the stress related with work overload, with professional relationships, the actions in health education and the familiar problems. The global stress and its dimensions presented lesser association with the worker’s individual characteristics than with their job. The findings point to the necessity of remodeling the work process of ESF teams, focusing on psychosocial risk factors, workload reduction and stress prevention.