O trabalho prisional e suas implicações na saúde mental dos agentes de segurança penitenciária

Abstract

With the goal of deepening the knowledge of penitentiary security officers, two studies have been performed in this thesis. The first one was a theoretical article entitled: Work penitentiary: psychosocial risks in light of the psychodynamics of work. The goal of this research was to reflect, through the literature, about the psychosocial risks related to labor that can trigger health damage to penitentiary workers. The analysis of the penitentiary agent work has shown aspects (physical, biological and psychological) that encumber their full performance, as well as some contradictions that, sometimes, result in interference in their physical and mental health. It can be seen through literature, these workers are exposed to numerous factors that shape psychosocial risks, which are an important determinants of the mental health state of penitentiary workers, signaling our need to think of a better health care to the penitentiary officer. The second study performed is a qualitative empirical article: Pleasure and suffering in the work of penitentiary officers. The goal was to identify the aspects in the work organization that produce pleasure and the ones that produce suffering in the penitentiary security officers and to describe the defensive strategies used by these workers in their daily labor routine. For such, a semi-structured interview has been used to gather the data that joined eight participants. The reports were treated using content analysis. Among the results, the findings indicate pleasure experience related to salary gratification and the stability in the job, and the poor labor conditions as the element causing the suffering. The defensive strategies that were most apparent were the negation and rationalization. It is concluded that the professional who participated in this study tried to find ways to maintain their health, by using mechanisms that support the confrontation against the suffering and the pursuit of pleasure.