Estresse ocupacional de trabalhadores da atenção primária à saúde no contexto da pandemia Covid-19

Abstract

Introduction: The rapid transmissibility of COVID-19 has presented serious physical, psychological, social and economic consequences that modify behaviors and rules generating anxiety, tension, insecurity, as well as intensive surveillance of the symptoms of the disease in all spheres of our society. Health professionals who found themselves at the front line of the pandemic were exposed to a considerable risk for the development of feelings of anguish, stress and other symptoms related to mental health, since the work overload that was already a reality increased, as well as the risk of contamination, added to controversial information disseminated through social networks expanding the potential for developing psychological reactions. Faceto-face care of patients with SYMPTOMS of COVID-19 may imply a risk to workers' health, especially in primary care services that assume the centrality of the health care network, being the first contact of users with the Unified Health System. Considering that primary care services play a strategic role in establishing continuous relationships with the population, it also has limitations specific to nature and its work objectives for the care of Influenza Syndromes, potentiating significant pressures in health professionals, capable of generating feelings for occupational stress. Objective: To analyze occupational stress in Primary Health Care workers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Epidemiological study of cross-sectional and analytical design, consisting of a questionnaire validated with 23 closed questions with 5- point Likert-type agreement alternatives, related to the structure of the work environment, interpersonal relationship and relationship with leaders. The study included 256 workers from all professional categories working in primary care services in ten Health Centers in the Northeast Region of Belo Horizonte. Data were collected between January and March 2021. A database was built with the aid of epi info version 7.0, and its analysis was performed using the Stata version 13.1 program. Descriptive analyses were performed according to the type of variable and its distribution. Absolute frequency (n) and relative frequency (M%), median and standard deviation (SD) measurements were used to characterize the population. Results: The workers were mostly female (80%), young adults (33%), middle education (53.73%) and higher (41.47%), composed of nursing technicians (28.40%) and community health agents (23.60%). It is emphasized that half of the workers are public agents and the other party maintained a contract bond with the city of Belo Horizonte (49.8%). The majority are married (44.53) and most do not have children (46.8) compared to those who have (45.2%), worked in basic health units for five years or more, and have been working in the same function for more than ten years (50.99%). The most significant stress-generating situations were elements that involve institutional human relations, such as: the absence of communication between the professional and the co-workers; competition in the workplace; and the fact that the superior cover up the well-done work of the professional in front of other people. According to the scale used, the professionals found themselves in the general low stress level (58.59%), which means that there is no absence of stress, but with a significant number than professionals at the medium level (37.89%). Final Considerations: The pandemic made a broader study impossible. However, it represents a starting point for discussions about the stress and mental illness of primary care health professionals, who during the pandemic period showed a chronic problem with emphasis on personal relationships between the health team and managers. Although the general level of stress has been low, it emphasizes how much human relations have stood out as a stressful element, making collective work and effective communication impossible, which discourages health work. As a Technical Product, a research report was prepared, in the A4 format (front and back), summarizing the research in a simple and easy to understand way. It is as Appendix C.