Workloads and strain process in Community Health Agents

• Main Authors: Mirian Cristina dos Santos Almeida, Patricia Campos Pavan Baptista, Arlete Silva
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo 2016-02-01
• Series: Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da USP
• Subjects: Agentes Comunitarios de Salud; Carga de Trabajo; Riesgos Laborales; Salud Ocupacional
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0080-62342016000100093&lng=en&tlng=en

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To identify the workloads present in the work activities of community health agents (CHAs) and the resulting strain processes. METHOD A descriptive, exploratory, cross-sectional and quantitative study conducted with 137 CHAs. Data were collected through a questionnaire and interview guided by the health surveillance software called SIMOSTE (Health Monitoring System of Nursing Workers), following the ethical codes of the current law. RESULTS In total, were identified 140 workloads involved in 122 strain processes, represented by the occurrence of health problems of the CHAs. The mechanical (55.00%) and biological (16.43%) loads stood out. The most common strain processes were the external causes of morbidity and mortality (62.31%) and diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue (10.66%). CONCLUSION From the identified overloads, it became evident that all workloads are present in the work process of CHAs, highlighting the mechanical load, represented mainly by external causes of morbidity and mortality that are related to occupational accidents.