O trabalho do agente comunitário de saúde na estratégia saúde da família: fatores de sobrecarga e mecanismos de enfrentamento / The Health Community Agent?s work: stressful factors and coping mechanisms

AUTOR(ES)

Mey Fan Porfírio Wai

DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2007

RESUMO

The community health agent (ACS) is a health worker recently included in health workers staff. This profession was legally created in 2002 and it is part of the Brazilian Unique Health System. This health professional is expected to live in the same community he will work; have completed a training course and the elementary school. Their activities include the register of families and having under responsibility 150 families or about 750 persons, in a limited geographic area. They also achieve activities that aim disease prevention and health promotion by means of home visits and educative actions directed to individuals and community, under supervision of a nurse. The complexity of the agents activities suggests that they are exposed to stressing situations. So the aim of this work is to indentify by ACS s perceptions of stressors at work and coping mechanisms. The theoretical model was that of Lazarus and Folkman that focuses stress and coping. To operationalize the model other works relating to this one were accessed. This is a descriptive and qualitative research. Sixteen community health agents from ESF teams in a inner city of São Paulo state were interviewed. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. The analysis focused the work events the agents perceived as stressors and also the coping mechanisms they used to face them.The stressful events were grouped into categories: work conditions; salary; gender; relationship family and work e emotional burden. The coping mechanisms were grouped into emotional oriented and problem oriented. Considering the wide range of activities the health community workers achieve, the dynamic of sanitary situation and how they understand them, it is possible that these results in comparison to others may contribute to health agents educative programs including some emotional support as well.

ASSUNTO(S)

estresse saúde da família agente comunitário de saúde family health health community agent health mental stress saúde mental

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