TRABALHO, SOFRIMENTO E ADOECIMENTO: A REALIDADE DE AGENTES COMUNITÁRIOS DE SAÚDE NO SUL DO BRASIL

Abstract The aim of this study was to analyze how community health agents evaluate the work con-text and possible factors that contribute to their suffering/illness. This was a cross-sectional, descriptive, quantitative-qualitative study carried out with health agents from 13 municipalities in the central region of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in 2014. The ‘Work and Risk of Illness Inventory’ sociode-mographic questionnaire and interview were used to collect data. The data were analyzed through content analysis. The situations of suffering were related to the lack of professional recognition, an excessive pace, work overload, conflicts with the community, lack of resolution of actions, unavailability of materials and inputs, in addition to the geographic location of the health unit and of the users’ homes, type of health strategy, and management. It was concluded that the health agent’s working environment can cause suf-fering/illness among these workers. Keywords community health agents; work; illness.