Working conditions and health in the context of social security in Santa Catarina, Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this qualitative and quantitative research was to get to know and analyze the working conditions of the public servants who work at the National Institute of Social Security (from the Portuguese Instituto Nacional de Seguro Social) and have ties with the Social Security System in the south of the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, focusing on the implications to their health. This exploratory research was performed between 2013 and 2017. The sample was composed of 165 workers from 11 agencies of the National Institute of Social Security in that region, who filled out a questionnaire with scales to rate working conditions and well-being in association with open questions. In a second moment, we adopted the narrative technique with the goal of complementing the data. The mean result of the working conditions scale (0-10) was 6.65 (SD = 1.39); as for the well-being, the mean result of the scale (0-7) was 4.99 (SD = 1.13). We observed ethical dilemmas deriving from the quality of the work, with the prioritization of the fulfillment of quantitative goals due to the introduction of the logic of the private sector within the management of the work in the public sphere. We concluded that the working conditions and well-being have negative repercussions on the health of the workers.