Estresse ocupacional e trabalho docente: estudo de caso em uma instituição federal de ensino superior

Abstract

The presence of occupational stress among university professors has aroused interest in the academic environment for being considered an important indicator of life quality of these professionals. However, there is still need to deepen the knowledge regarding the perception of teachers about events triggering work stress. In this sense, the aim of this study was to investigate the process of experiencing stress among professors at the Campus of Medianeira of the Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, UTFPR. We conducted a survey on the teachers’ perception and identification of the main stressing occupational events. The sample was composed by 90 Higher Education professors at UTFPR. Field research consisted of a descriptive-exploratory study, whose analytical data were collected through the application of electronic questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The collected material was analyzed under a qualitative-quantitative approach, the following analytical units of the study: selfassessment of stress, self-declaration of gender belonging, symptoms indicative of stress, stressors, personal characteristics triggering occupational stress, self-perception of the teacher profession as "stressful", tendency to change profession, indicators of reconciliation of personal and work life and coping strategies used in the management of occupational stress, UTFPR's concern with health and collective well-being. The results obtained allowed a better understanding of the challenges inherent to the labor of university teaching in face of stress vulnerability, identification of stressful events and coping strategies adopted in the management of occupational stress, as well as evidence of participants' perception of the policy of UTFPR focused on health promotion and teacher welfare. The results indicate that the self-assessment of occupational stress is influenced by the gender characteristic, and that together, these two analytical units, influence on the other units evaluated. The results also indicate that teachers are more vulnerable to occupational stress in comparison with teachers. However, it is the teachers who, more often than not, use drugs in the management of work stress, show a tendency to change their profession and do not perceive any concern of UTFPR regarding the health and well-being of the professionals who work in it. We expect that our results appeal to managers and government decision-makers as they search for strategies to face the difficulties of the teaching labor and, consequently, improve the health and wellbeing of these professionals.