Saúde, trabalho e qualidade de vida entre os profissionais da saúde indígena do Polo Base de Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brasil

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the profile of socio demographic, economic, health, disease, quality of life, and work ing conditions of indigenous health professionals in the largest Polo Base in Mato Grosso do Sul and compare these aspects by their professional category, reference teams, and time working in indigenous health. This is a quantitative cross sectional research conducted from February to November 2020, with all health professionals from the Dourados Polo Base who provided immediate care in the territory, through a semi structured questionnaire, with questions about socio demographic, economic, diseases, living and working habits, assessment of nutritional status, the risk for developing cardiovascular diseases, level of physical activity, and quality of life conditions. The statistical analyses were carried out by Pearson's Chi square Test or Fisher's Exact Test, with a significance level of 5%. Indigenous Health Agents and Indigenous Sanitation Agents (n=61) had lower education (p<0.001), per capita family income (p<0.001), diagnosis of general diseases, other diseases (p=0.022) and use of medication, and higher occurrence of Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases (p=0.022), overweight (p=0.044), weekend work (p<0.001) and problems with health service users (p=0.021) when compared to other professionals. Most professionals were overweight (77.8%), had high and very high risk (68.3%) for developing cardiovascular diseases, despite being classified as active and very active (66.7%), reported a good or very good quality of life (65.0%) and were satisfied or very satisfied with their health (74.4%), and the overall quality of life was above the average score. The professionals working in the permanent teams reported a higher frequency of taking work home (p=0.047) and that working on the weekend interfered with their relaxation (p=0.018) when compared to the professionals in the mobile teams. Workers with less time of service reported more work overload (p=0.022), taking work home and working on the weekend, while professionals with more time of service reported more accidents at work (p=0.004). However, regardless of the categories studied, most professionals presented insecurity with employment status (72.5%), shortage of job positions and careers plans (86.3%), work overload (59.0%), weekend work (78, 6%) and working at home (63.2%), health risks (78. 6%), accidents (65.0%), and violence witnessed (73.2%) and suffered (54.7%) in the work environment, the existence of goals (89.7%), late payment (95.7%), and dissatisfaction with salaries (86.4%). Moreover, all professionals reported that they liked and found their work important. Therefore, the development of health actions and better working conditions is necessary for the care of professionals, especially Indigenous Health Agents and Indigenous Sanitation Agents.