Correlations between well-being of nurses and psychosocial working conditions - a descriptive cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Work in health care is classified as a difficult profession and nurses are considered among the professional group that is exposed to the permanent impact of occupational stress. Psychosocial working conditions and related hazards are defined as those aspects that have the potential to cause harm to an employee's mental or physical health. Lack of psycho-physical health well-being reduces job satisfaction and thus job commitment. Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the overall well-being of nurses and examine the correlation between nurses' well-being and their assessment of psychosocial working conditions in conjunction with occupational and demographic factors. Materials and methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted among 526 nurses employed in a selected public clinical hospital in Poland. All nurses provided labor during the survey. A diagnostic survey method using the standardized Psychosocial Working Conditions questionnaire based on the demands-control-support stress model was used for measurement. Results: The examined nurses rated highly job demands (mean 3.46) as well as the scale of desired changes (mean 3.44). The ability to control their work (mean 3.19) and the level of social support (mean 3.21) were rated at a slightly lower level. The scale of well-being was rated highest by respondents (mean 3.68). Several statistically significant correlations (p < 0.05) can be observed between the well-being scale and the other scales of psychosocial working conditions across age categories. The least correlated are the well-being and demands scales, although as age increases with higher levels of well-being, the demands scale scores decrease. Conclusion: The well-being of the examined nurses was closely related to sociodemographic data and the individual scales of the Psychosocial Working Conditions questionnaire. Chronic diseases are associated with greater demands at work and reduced well-being. Respondents who receive higher levels of support at work experience higher levels of well-being.

Healthcare professionals' perception of their working environment and how to handle mental strain.

Healthcare professionals (HCP) are an important resource, but the shortage of staff and an increased volume of patients with comorbidities might put a pressure on them. We speculated if mental strain was a challenge for HCP working in a department of Anaesthesiology. The purpose of the study was to explore HCP's perception of their psychosocial work environment and how they handle the mental strain in a department of Anaesthesiology in a university hospital. In addition, to identify types of strategies to handle the mental strain. This was an exploratory study based on semi-structured, individual interview with anaesthesiologists, nurses and nurse assistants employed in the Department of Anaesthesiology. The interviews were conducted online and were recorded in Teams, transcribed, and analysed using systematic text condensation. A total of 21 interviews were conducted with HCP from the different sections of the department. The interviewees described that they had experienced mental strain at work, with the unforeseen situation as the most challenging. High workflow is mentioned as an important contributing factor to mental strain. Most of the interviewees found that their traumatising experiences were met with support. Overall, everyone had someone to talk to either at work or privately, but they still found it difficult to talk about collegial conflicts or own vulnerabilities. Teamwork is described as strong in some sections. All HCP had experienced mental strain. Differences were found in how they perceived the experience of mental strain, their reactions and needs of support as well as their coping strategies.

Mental health-related telemedicine interventions for pregnant women and new mothers: a systematic literature review.

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy and the postpartum period are times when women are at increased risk for depression and mental problems. This may also negatively affect the foetus. Thus, there is a need for interventions with low-threshold access and care. Telemedicine interventions are a promising approach to address these issues. This systematic literature review examined the efficacy of telemedicine interventions for pregnant women and/or new mothers to address mental health-related outcomes. The primary objective was to analyse whether telemedicine interventions can reduce mental health problems in pregnant women and new mothers. The secondary aim was to clarify the impact of type of interventions, their frequency and their targets. METHODS: Inclusion criteria: randomized controlled trials, with participants being pregnant women and/or new mothers (with infants up to twelve months), involving telemedicine interventions of any kind (e.g. websites, apps, chats, telephone), and addressing any mental health-related outcomes like depression, postnatal depression, anxiety, stress and others. Search terms were pregnant women, new mothers, telemedicine, RCT (randomised controlled trials), mental stress as well as numerous synonyms including medical subject headings. The literature search was conducted within the databases PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and PsycINFO. Screening, inclusion of records and data extraction were performed by two researchers according to the PRISMA guidelines, using the online tool CADIMA. RESULTS: Forty four articles were included. A majority (62%) reported significantly improved mental health-related outcomes for participants receiving telemedicine interventions compared to control. In particular (internet-delivered) Cognitive Behavioural Therapy was successful for depression and stress, and peer support improved outcomes for postnatal depression and anxiety. Interventions with preventive approaches and interventions aimed at symptom reduction were largely successful. For the most part there was no significant improvement in the symptoms of anxiety. CONCLUSION: Telemedicine interventions evaluated within RCTs were mostly successful. However, they need to be designed to specifically target a certain mental health issue because there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Further research should focus on which specific interventions are appropriate for which mental health outcomes in terms of intervention delivery modes, content, target approaches, etc. Further investigation is needed, in particular with regard to anxiety.

University students' experience of the Beirut port explosion: associations with subjective well-being and subjective symptoms of mental strain.

BACKGROUND: On 4 August 2020, an explosion shook Beirut, killing more than 200 people and leaving thousands injured or homeless. AIMS: This study examined mental health of university students through a cross-sectional online survey between December 2020 and January 2021. METHODS: The questionnaire consisted of the WHO-5, sense of coherence (SoC), future anxiety, self-developed subjective symptoms of mental strain (SSMS), and items assessing proximity to explosion, extent of injury and house damage. Gender, study level and social status were used as sociodemographic characteristics. RESULTS: Of 1042 participants, 30.8% were at 0-7 km from explosion; 38.1% reported physical injuries; and 12.4% saw their home damaged. Two third (60.3%) reported ≥3 SSMS, and 73.4% reported low well-being. Students with low well-being were more often female and master students (p < 0.001). Females were more often affected by ≥3 SSMS (p < 0.001). Regression analysis with low well-being as dependent variable revealed significant associations with study level (OR: 2.30-2.94), future anxiety (OR: 2.72-4.34) and SoC (OR: 1.81-5.61). For ≥3 SSMS, females (OR: 3.09), moderate/very close distance (OR: 2.13-4.98), injury/death of family member or friend (OR: 2.07-2.06), house damage (OR: 1.72) future anxiety (OR: 1.97-3.11) and SoC (1.79-2.88) were significant predictors. DISCUSSION: Preventive mental health strategies that strengthen SoC and outlook on future could protect against SSMS and low well-being following major trauma.

Those who need it the most get it the least: Age specific reciprocal effects between social support and mental strain.

Socioemotional selectivity theory and models of lifespan development of resources suggest that older workers may particularly benefit from social resources so as to maintain their well-being throughout their work-life span. However, the age-differential effects of social support at work have been rarely investigated. We hypothesised that age moderates the effects of colleagues' and supervisors' social support on mental strain, with strongest effects for older workers. A two-wave complete panel design (six months' time lag) was used. Self-reports from N = 334 nurses (age: 21-63 years) were gathered with established questionnaires: strain was measured by means of the irritation scale; social support from colleagues and supervisors by using a German adaptation of the social support scales. We proved factorial validity and measurement invariance across time points (CFA) and computed path models (SEM). As expected, age moderated the negative longitudinal effects of colleagues' social support on mental strain. Older nurses (≥45 years) benefited the most from colleagues' social support. However, mental strain in older nurses was associated with reduced social support from colleagues. Surprisingly with middle-aged nurses (35-44 years) an increase in colleagues' social support resulted in higher mental strain. No effects for supervisor support were observed. Results indicate that social support by colleagues is an important resource for older workers, but older workers are less likely to receive social support when mental strain is present. Moreover, the timing of social support across the work lifespan seems to be critical, as it might have detrimental effects in middle-aged workers.

Validation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) adapted for the whole day repeated measures context.

Our objective was to investigate the validity of four-item and six-item versions of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX, or TLX for short) for measuring workload over a whole day in the repeated measures context. We analysed data on 51 people with type 1 diabetes from whom we collected ecological momentary assessment and daily diary data over 14 days. The TLX was administered at the last survey of every day. Confirmatory factor analysis fit statistics indicated that neither the TLX-6 nor TLX-4 were a unidimensional representation of whole day workload. In exploratory analyses, another set of TLX items we refer to as TLX-4v2 was sufficiently unidimensional. Raw sum scores from the TLX-6 and TLX-4v2 had plausible relationships with other measures, as evidenced by intra-person correlations and mixed-effects models. TLX-6 appears to capture multiple factors contributing to workload, while TLX-4v2 assesses the single factor of 'mental strain'. Practitioner Summary: Using within-person longitudinal data, we found evidence supporting the validity of a measure evaluating whole-day workload (i.e. workload derived from all sources, not only paid employment) derived from the NASA-TLX. This measure may be useful to assess how day-to-day variations in workload impact quality of life among adults.Abbreviations: NASA-TLX or TLX: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index; TLX-6: six item version of the NASA-TLX; TLX-4: four item version of the NASA-TLX, TLX-4v2: four item NASA-TLX version two; NIOSH: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; CFA: confirmatory factor analysis; T1D: type 1 diabetes; EMA: ecological momentary assessment; BG: blood glucose; SD: standard deviation; CV: coefficient of variation; RMSEA: root mean square error of approximation; CFI: comparative fit index; TLI: Tucker-Lewis Index; SRMR: standardized root mean square residual; AIC: Akaike information criterion; BIC: Bayesian information criterion; χ2: Chi-square statistic.

[Intralogistics in the age of digital change: Job demands and mental strain in order picking using the example of a company from the e-commerce sector]. / Intralogistik im Zeitalter des digitalen Wandels: Arbeitsanforderungen und psychische Beanspruchung in der Kommissionierung am Beispiel eines Unternehmens aus dem E-Commerce-Bereich.

The e­commerce sector is experiencing a continuous boom in logistics due to digitization. Along with mostly manual activities, people remain a decisive resource in the warehouse, which must be retained and integrated with a particular view to demographic change. In the article, the survey results of a field study with focus on the area of order picking, which was conducted at a large mail-order company, are described as an example and compared with survey results from other companies. Based on the job demand resources model, stressors, challenges and resources are examined in addition to the target variables of work ability, job satisfaction and health. The results indicate that stressors and work resources roughly keep the balance, even if, for example, job satisfaction and health are only at a medium level. Above all, there is still a need of action regarding autonomy of employees. The digital transformation is seen as an opportunity to expand the scope for action and decision-making.Practical Relevance: Due to the manual nature of the activities and the predefined processes, operational logistics involves a large number of work demands that can lead to mental strain and, in the long term, to disorders or illnesses. The expansion of work-related resources is necessary to compensate for the stressors. Digitization is seen as an opportunity to expand these resources.

Perceived mental strain dissociates from perceived physical strain during relative intensity submaximal exercise on ascent from low to high altitude.

Perceived fatigability, which has perception of physical strain and of mental strain as its components, can impact exercise tolerance. Upon ascent to high altitude, low landers experience reduced exercise capacity and reduced tolerance for a given absolute submaximal work rate. It is established that perceived physical strain tracks with relative exercise intensity. However, it is not known how altitude ascent affects perceived mental strain relative to perceived physical strain. We tested the hypothesis that when exercising at the same relative exercise intensity perceived physical strain will remain unchanged whereas perceived mental strain will decrease on ascent from low to high altitude in the Everest region in Nepal. Twelve hours after arriving at each of three elevations; 1400 m, 3440 m, and 4240 m, 12 untrained participants used the task effort awareness (TEA) and physical-rating of perceived exertion (P-RPE) scales to report perceived mental and physical strain during a 20 min walking test at a self-monitored heart rate reserve (HRR) range of 40-60% (Polar HR Monitor). TEA and P-RPE were recorded twice during exercise (5-7 min and 14-16 min). Neither P-RPE (1400 m: 11.1 ± 1.8, 3440 m: 10.7 ± 1.2, 4240 m: 11.5 ± 1.5) nor %HRR (1400 m: 55.25 ± 7.34, 3440 m: 51.70 ± 6.70, 4240 m: 50.17 ± 4.02) changed as altitude increased. TEA decreased at 4240 m (2.05 ± 0.71) compared to 1400 m (3.44 ± 0.84)--this change was not correlated with any change in %HRR nor was it due to a change in core affect. These findings support our hypothesis and demonstrate the independence of perceived physical and perceived mental strain components of perceived fatigability. Implications for exercise tolerance remain to be determined.

Longitudinal changes of anxiety and depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany: The role of pre-existing anxiety, depressive, and other mental disorders.

Especially individuals with mental disorders might experience an escalation of psychopathological symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we investigated the role of anxiety, depressive, and other mental disorders for levels and longitudinal changes of COVID-19-related fear, anxiety and depressive symptoms during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. In a longitudinal observational design with four assessment waves from March, 27th until June, 15th 2020, a total of 6,551 adults from Germany was assessed. 4,175 individuals participated in one, 1,070 in two, 803 in three, and 503 in all four waves of data collection. Multilevel analyses revealed that across all assessment waves, COVID-19-related fear, anxiety, and depressive symptoms were significantly higher in individuals with vs. without anxiety, depressive, and other mental disorders. All symptoms decreased on average over time, and this decrease was significantly stronger in individuals with vs. without anxiety disorders, and particularly driven by individuals with generalized anxiety disorder. Our findings suggest that individuals with mental disorders, especially anxiety disorders - and in particular those with a generalized anxiety disorder - seem to be vulnerable to experience psychological strain in the context of the pandemic, might likely overestimate potential threat, and should be targeted by preventive and therapeutic interventions.

Reciprocal Associations Between Sleep, Mental Strain, and Training Load in Junior Endurance Athletes and the Role of Poor Subjective Sleep Quality.

The importance of adequate sleep for athletic functioning is well established. Still, the literature shows that many athletes report sleep of suboptimal quality or quantity. To date, no research has investigated how bidirectional variations in mental and physiological states influence sleep patterns. The present study, therefore, investigates reciprocal associations between sleep, mental strain, and training load by utilizing a prospective, observational design. In all, 56 junior endurance athletes were followed over 61 consecutive days. Unobtrusive, objective measurements of sleep with novel radar technology were obtained, and subjective daily reports of mental strain and training load were collected. The role of subjective sleep quality was investigated to identify whether the reciprocal associations between sleep, mental strain, and training load depended on being a good versus poor sleeper. Multilevel modeling with Bayesian estimation was used to investigate the relationships. The results show that increases in mental strain are associated with decreased total sleep time (TST, 95% CI = -0.12 to -0.03), light sleep (95% CI = -0.08 to -0.00), and sleep efficiency (95% CI = -0.95 to -0.09). Further, both mental strain and training load are associated with subsequent deceased rapid eye movement (REM, respectively, 95% CI = -0.05 to -0.00 and 95% CI = -0.06 to -0.00) sleep. Increases in TST, light, deep, and REM sleep are all associated with subsequent decreased training load (respectively, 95% CI = -0.09 to -0.03; 95% CI = -0.10 to -0.01; 95% CI = -0.22 to -0.02; 95% CI = -0.18 to -0.03). Finally, among poor sleepers, increases in sleep onset latency are associated with increases in subsequent mental strain (95% CI = 0.09-0.46), and increases in deep sleep are associated with decreases in subsequent training load (95% CI = -67.65 to 11.43). These results offer novel insight into the bidirectional associations between sleep, mental strain, and training load in athletes and demonstrate the detrimental effects of mental strain on sleep, likely caused by mental activation incompatible with sleep. An increased need for recovery, suggested by increased TST and time in different sleep stages, is associated with subsequent self-regulatory reduction of training loads by the athletes. In poor sleepers, increases in deep sleep may suggest an elevated need for physiological recovery.

Adoecimento bancário: construção de estratégias individuais e coletivas para o enfrentamento do desgaste mental relacionado ao trabalho / Bank workers' mental strain: building confrontation strategies

Resumo Este relato visa apresentar e discutir o embasamento, o desenvolvimento e os resultados de um grupo de enfrentamento organizado com trabalhadores bancários adoecidos. A atividade foi realizada pelo Núcleo de Ação em Saúde do Trabalhador (NAST), em parceria com o Sindicato dos Bancários de Limeira. Partindo da trajetória profissional dos trabalhadores, o objetivo foi o de problematizar as características da organização do trabalho contemporâneo nesse setor. O grupo realizou oito encontros de aproximadamente duas horas na sede do sindicato, em Limeira. Nos encontros, os trabalhadores relataram situações laborais adversas determinantes no processo saúde-doença. Grande parte das queixas dos trabalhadores estava relacionada ao desgaste mental ocasionado pela pressão sofrida para alcançar metas superdimensionadas, levando ao estresse -, dentre outras formas de adoecimento -, inclusive pela falta de reconhecimento por parte dos gestores e usuários da instituição. O grupo se mostrou dispositivo potente de enfrentamento e ferramenta importante ao dar espaço de voz para trabalhadores se articularem na construção de estratégias individuais e coletivas para promoção da saúde no local de trabalho.

Abstract This report aims to present and discuss the basis, development and results of a support group constituted with sick bank workers. The activity was carried out by the Núcleo de Ação em Saúde do Trabalhador - NAST (Workers' Health Action Center) in partnership with the Bank Workers' Union of Limeira, state of São Paulo, Brazil. Starting from the workers' professional life, the objective was to query the current labor organization in this sector. The group held eight meetings of approximately two hours each at the union headquarters in Limeira. During the meetings, workers reported adverse work situations that were determinant in their health-disease process. Most of the workers' complaints were related to the mental strain caused by pressure to achieve oversized goals, and by the lack of recognition by the institution managers and users. The support group proved to be a powerful confrontation device and an important tool in providing a voice space for workers to articulate the construction of individual and collective strategies for health promotion in the workplace.

Teamwork and Safety Climate in Homecare: A Mixed Method Study.

A rapidly changing homecare service sector implies difficulties to control safety and health risks for staff and to guarantee standardised deliveries of services to recipients. This study aimed to describe staff perceptions of safety climate and practices in homecare service teams, and suggestions for improvements. A second aim was to identify if and how the appraisals of safety climate were related to individual perceptions of safety, mental strain and adverse events/injury. A convergent parallel mixed methods design was used. Nursing assistants and care aides (133 in total, representing 11 work teams) in the north of Sweden replied to a survey and participated in focus group interviews. Results were analysed with ANOVA (inter-team differences) and by qualitative content analysis. Significant diversity was identified between the teams in five of seven dimensions of safety climate. Important areas for improvement were: a need to define and agree on criteria for a safe working environment; leadership prioritising safety at work; and management able to provide trust, support and time. A prerequisite for these agreements was improved authority and communication between all parties involved. The safety climate dimensions were related to personal perceptions of safety and mental strain and, partly, to adverse events/injuries.

Tennis serve performances at break points: Approaching practice patterns for coaching.

Tennis comprises specific match situations when winning the next point is crucial. These big points can decide about a win or loss and, thus, reasonably arouse mental stress. Break points (BPs) are considered as big points and the outcome is influenced by, among a variety of other factors, the serve, which is well accepted being one of the dominant strokes in Men's tennis. In this study, we examined the serve behaviour for male players in the Wimbledon tournament 2016 to investigate the possible impacts of presumed mental stress within the situation of BPs, and further, if winning players perform better than losing players. A total of 28.843 points were analysed and divided into BP (n = 2.035) and non-break points - referred to as regular points (RP; n = 26.808).

Stressful work characteristics, health indicators and work behavior: the case of machine operators.

This article shows the results of research on psychosocial risks for a group of machine and plant operators (n = 1014) from the construction, chemical, energy, mining, metal and food industries in Poland. The Psychosocial Risk Scale designed in Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine (NIOM) by Moscicka-Teske and Potocka was used to indicate the occurrence of general and specific occupational stressors and the level of their stressfulness. The results revealed that the studied machine and plant operators experience job context stress - related to working environment features concerning work organization - more frequently than job content stressors - related to the type of tasks they perform. Moreover, a correlation analysis between work features and the health and occupational functioning of the respondents revealed significant but weak relationships between the variables (from -0.08 to -0.23). Comparative analysis revealed the differences between the studied sectors. Such a comparison makes it possible to set goals for each sector and to attempt to improve the distinctive areas.

The Role of Personal and Job Resources in the Relationship between Psychosocial Job Demands, Mental Strain, and Health Problems.

Recent research highlights the importance of both job resources and personal resources in the job demands-resources model. However, the results of previous studies on how these resources are related to each other and how they operate in relation to the health-impairment process of the job demands-resources model are ambiguous. Thus, the authors tested an alternative model, considering job and personal resources to be domains of the same underlying factor and linking this factor to the health-impairment process. Survey data of two Austrian occupational samples (N 1 = 8657 and N 2 = 9536) were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). The results revealed that job and personal resources can be considered as indicators of a single resources factor which was negatively related to psychosocial job demands, mental strain, and health problems. Confirming previous studies, we further found that mental strain mediated the relationship between psychosocial job demands and health problems. Our findings suggest that interventions aimed at maintaining health in the context of work may take action on three levels: (1) the prevention of extensive job demands, (2) the reduction of work-related mental strain, and (3) the strengthening of resources.

Conversando sobre desgaste mental no trabalho e suas possibilidades de enfrentamento: uma experiência no serviço público municipal de Guarulhos / Talking about mental strain at work and coping possibilities: an experience in the public service of Guarulhos, SP, Brazil

Resumo Objetivo: apresentar uma experiência no campo da saúde mental relacionada ao trabalho realizada por equipe de psicologia de serviço de segurança e saúde do trabalhador com servidores do serviço público municipal de Guarulhos. Métodos: Relato de trabalho de acolhimento em grupos realizado desde 2012 com servidores que associam seu desgaste mental ao trabalho, para proporcionar um espaço de reflexão coletiva sobre os fatores que levam ao sofrimento psíquico e possibilitar a percepção e a valorização de sua capacidade laboral como forma de seu enfrentamento. Resultados: o trabalho permitiu aos participantes identificar vivências mais prazerosas e os suportes para o enfrentamento das situações de sofrimento, além do seu fortalecimento psíquico com a saída gradativa do isolamento. Conclusão: tratar desse tema envolvendo também as chefias colaborou para ampliar espaços de discussão da relação entre saúde mental e trabalho na Prefeitura de Guarulhos.

Abstract Objective: to present an experience in the field of worker's mental health carried out by the psychology team of a public safety and health service with public servants of Guarulhos, SP, Brazil. Methods: we report a work experience with psychological host groups carried out since 2012 with public servants that associate their mental strain with labor, in order to create a space for collective reflections on the factors that lead to psychic suffering and to help them perceive and valorize their work capability as a way of coping with the situation. Results: the work allowed participants to identify more pleasant experiences and cope with suffering situations, in addition of psychic strengthening to them gradually leave their isolation. Conclusion: to address this topic also involving managers helped to broaden the discussion spaces on the relation between mental health and work in the public service of Garulhos.

Desgaste mental de assistentes sociais: um estudo na área da habitação / Social workers mental strain: a study in the dwelling area

ResumoO presente artigo sintetiza reflexões sobre como as formas de organização e gestão do trabalho de assistentes sociais com as políticas sociais, na atual fase do capitalismo, são potencialmente geradoras de desgaste mental. A partir da análise de relatos, em pesquisa qualitativa na área de habitação de interesse social, ficaram evidenciados sofrimentos e adoecimentos que necessitam ser conhecidos e divulgados para contribuir com a organização coletiva de assistentes sociais.

AbstractIn the present article it is synthesized thinking about how the ways social workers’ work is organized and managed, together with social policies, are potential generators of mental strain. From the analysis of reports in qualitative research in the area of dwelling of social interest, it became evident suffering and illnesses that have to be known and unveiled to contribute to the social workers’ collective organization.

A vivência de profissionais do acolhimento em uidades básicas de saúde: uma accolhida desamparada / The experienceof fostering professionals at basic health units: destitute fostering / La vivenci de profesionals de acogida en unidades básicas de salud: una acogida desamparada

Resumo Este artigo apresenta os resultados de uma pesquisa que analisou a vivência de profissionais na atividade de acolhimento em unidades básicas de saúde. O pressuposto foi o de que a lógica neoliberal está cada vez mais presente em diversos âmbitos sociais, incluindo os serviços públicos de saúde, influenciando as relações de trabalho e sua organização e, consequentemente, podendo dificultar a prática do acolhimento tal qual preconizado pelo Ministério da Saúde. Foram realizadas cinco entrevistas reflexivas com profissionais que praticam o acolhimento em unidades básicas de saúde, submetidas à análise de conteúdo. Os resultados indicam que a contratação formal, a exigência de flexibilidade e a falta de recursos são aspectos indicativos da precarização das condições de trabalho. Somadas à prevalência da concepção de atendimento médico-centrada e à medicalização excessiva, prejudicam a prática do acolhimento de acordo com o Ministério da Saúde. As entrevistadas demonstraram ter consciência dessas contradições presentes no cotidiano de trabalho, mas mostraram-se impotentes para mudar a situação. Tais aspectos configuram a situação de precariedade subjetiva a que esses profissionais estão submetidos e geram desgaste mental que pode resultar em sofrimento e adoecimento.

Abstract This article presents the results of a survey that examined the experiences of professionals working in providing foster care at basic health units. The assumption was that the neoliberal logic is increasingly present in various social fields, including public health services, influencing their labor relations and organization and, thus, possibly hindering the practice of fostering the Ministry of Health recommends. Five reflexive interviews were carried out among professionals working with fostering at basic health units. The interviews were submitted to content analysis. The results indicate that formal employment, the need for flexibility, and the lack of resources are indicative aspects of precarious working conditions. Coupled with the prevalence of the doctor-centered care concept and over-medicalization, this undermines the fostering practice the Ministry of Health recommends. The interviewees showed they are aware of these contradictions in their daily work, but are powerless to change the situation. These aspects make up the subjective precariousness that these professionals are submitted to and generate mental strain that can result in suffering and illness.

Resumen Este artículo presenta los resultados de una investigación que analizó la vivencia de profesionales en la actividad de acogida en unidades básicas de salud. El supuesto fue el de que la lógica neoliberal está cada vez más presente en diversos ámbitos sociales, incluyendo los servicios públicos de salud, influyendo en las relaciones de trabajo y su organización y, en consecuencia, pudiendo dificultar la práctica de la acogida tal cual lo recomienda el Ministerio de la Salud. Se realizaron cinco entrevistas reflexivas con profesionales que llevan a cabo la acogida en unidades básicas de salud, sometidas al análisis de contenido. Los resultados indican que la contratación formal, la exigencia de flexibilidad y la falta de recursos son aspectos indicativos de la precariedad de las condiciones de trabajo. Aunadas a la prevalencia de la concepción centrada en la atención médica y a la excesiva medicalización, perjudican la práctica de la acogida, de acuerdo con el Ministerio de la Salud. Las entrevistadas mostraron tener conciencia de esas contradicciones presentes en el trabajo cotidiano, pero se mostraron impotentes para cambiar la situación. Tales aspectos configuran la situación de precariedad subjetiva a que están sometidos estos profesionales y generan un desgaste mental que puede resultar en sufrimiento y padecimiento.

Grupos de enfrentamento do desgaste mental no trabalho bancário: discutindo saúde mental do trabalhador no sindicato / Bank workers with mental strain: discussing mental health in a workers union

Este relato de experiência apresenta uma proposta desenvolvida por uma parceria entre o Curso de Psicologia da Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP) e o Sindicato dos Bancários de São Paulo, Osasco e Região, desde 2008, no campo da saúde mental relacionada ao trabalho. Esta ação que tem se revelado promissora tanto para os trabalhadores diretamente envolvidos, quanto para o sindicato: os grupos de enfrentamento do desgaste mental no trabalho bancário. Os grupos têm como objetivos principais: desenvolver atividade de acolhimento das pessoas com desgaste mental que procuram o sindicato; compreender o processo de adoecimento no interior das trajetórias de vida e trabalho dos participantes, considerando o momento atual de reestruturação produtiva no setor bancário; contribuir com a construção de ações individuais e coletivas de enfrentamento. O resultado da experiência evidencia a potencialidade de um trabalho como esse quanto à possibilidade de compreensão do processo de adoecimento, bem como quanto à identificação de fatores de desgaste mental na categoria bancária. Além disso, os demais objetivos foram alcançados, intensificando a presença da discussão sobre saúde mental e trabalho no cotidiano do sindicato.

This report presents the experience developed by the Course of Psychology of the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP) in a partnership with the Union of Bank Workers of São Paulo, Osasco and Region since 2008, in the of mental health related to work: support groups for those who suffer from mental strain while working in a bank. The initiative has been beneficial for the workers, as well as for their union. The support group main purposes are: to develop activities aiming at supporting mentally strained bank workers who seek help at the union; to understand the process of illness within participants work and life course, considering the productive reengineering banks are currently going through; and to contribute to the development of individual and collective actions to confront strain. These results evidenced the potentiality of such group activities for understanding the process of illness, as well as to identify mental strain factors among bank workers. Furthermore, our objectives were achieved, increasing the discussion about mental health and work within the workers union routine.