Institutional conditions and coping strategies of precarious work conditions for occupational therapists in public hospitals

• Main Authors: Kaline Kelly Rodrigues Farias, Waldez Cavalcante Bezerra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de São Carlos 2016-04-01
• Series: Cadernos de Terapia Ocupacional
• Subjects: Occupational Therapy; Working Conditions; Public Hospitals.
• Online Access: http://www.cadernosdeterapiaocupacional.ufscar.br/index.php/cadernos/article/view/1108/709

Introduction: Health policy in Brazil since the 1970 preceded several transformations, passing the conquest of the National Health System in 1988 to the implementation of new management models that in the context of neoliberal policy may impair public health services, resulting in losses to public hospitals and their professionals, including the occupational therapist. Objective: This research aimed to reveal the precariousness of the impacts of the Brazilian health policy in the professional practice of occupational therapists in public hospitals in Maceió-AL. Method: This is a qualitative field study, with data collected with semi-structured interview, and analyzed based on the content analysis technique. Results: The analysis raised two themes: ‘Difficulties in daily work’ and ‘Professional coping strategies of precarious work conditions’. It was found that the precariousness affects both work relations and conditions, thus constituting a continuity process between the different precariousness, impairing interdisciplinary work and the satisfaction of user’s demands. On the other hand, professionals adopt coping strategies including resource requests to the institution, buying and getting materials through donation, using adaptation, establishing limit imposition to the institutions, even though they don’t always solve the problem. Conclusion: Therefore this study has revealed that the precarious work conditions in public hospital in the city of Maceió has reverberated directly in the occupational therapists, thus resulting in losses for the users of the public health system, mobilizing strategies of professional coping.