Trabalho docente e sofrimento psiquico: um estudo entre professores de escolas particulares de Salvador, Bahia

This cross-sectional epidemiological study aimed to describe the occurrence of minor psychological disorders among teachers from private schools of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, and to evaluate potential risk factors for this health problem. A cluster (schools), stratified (small, medium or large school), proportional (to the number of teachers in each of these types of schools), random sample was taken. Data were collected in a standardized self-report questionnaire. Mental health evaluation was performed by using the self-report questionnaire (SRQ-20). Data collection occurred among 572 teachers. The prevalence of minor psychological distress (MPD) was 20,1 %. Teachers with MPD presented higher mean of disease complaints than those without M PD. The results showed that teachers presenting statistically more elevated MPD prevalences were those who referred bad relationship with colleagues, repeated work, accelerated work rhythm, distress on teacher-student relationship, insufficient time to lunch, and inadequacy of materials and equipments to develop activities. These results support the hypothesis that some work characteristics have negative effects upon mental health of teachers. Thus, these characteristics should be redimensioned in the work process.