Condições de trabalho de agentes comunitários de saúde

Abstract

The Community Health Agent is paramount in the context of Primary Health Care in Brazil and this agent is currently involved in a variety of work environments and specialties that justify a specific research concerning the health and working conditions of these professionals. The aim of this study is to analyze and discuss the working conditions of the “ACS” (Community Health Agent) from the city of Juiz de Fora and the interconnection with their experiences of pleasure and suffering and pain in their work context. It is a cross-sectional, quantitative study with a number of 400 evaluated professionals. Data collection has been performed from October 2016 until February 2017 and two self-fulfilling surveys and two scales of the Work Inventory and Risk of Falling ill (ITRA) were used as instruments for the research. The population of the study is predominantly female (91.2%), around 46 years old in average (standard deviation of 10.22), married or in a stable relationship (57.5%) with a high school degree of education (76.4% %). Regarding the results, the Work Context Assessment Scale (EACT) has presented its three most important indicators as critical; two of them - related to working conditions – have been ranked as severe. Considering the Indicators of Pleasure and Pain at Work (EIPST), the indicators that evaluate pleasure have been ranked as satisfactory. Among all the items, the ones related to work recognition and the pride to work in the designated profession were the ones which have had the highest averages of positive scores. On the other hand, the ones related to trustfulness among work colleagues, work motivation and work recognition by their peers have been ranked as critical, hence, they have been considered as potential indicators of suffering and pain at the work environment. The indicators related to the suffering and pain at work have presented critical results. The indicator regarding Professional Burnout is the one that has presented the most negative evaluation, having had all of its items ranked as critical. Regarding the cross-sectional data, the sociodemographic data and the physical-structural conditions of work with the EACT and EIPST indicators, we understand that the older the ACS gets, the greater is his/her professional fulfillment . It has also been verified an association of experiences of pain and suffering with the female sex. We have noticed that most of the items in the survey concerning physical-structural conditions have shown a statistically significant association with EACT and EIPST. It means that the ACS consider their working conditions inadequate, unsatisfactory or even bad and that these conditions are helping develop experiences of suffering and pain at the work environment.