Work-related stress in Medical and Dentistry programs.

INTRODUCTION

Stress occurs more frequently in groups in which the degree of responsibility and decision-making power play notable roles in society, such as professors and health professionals.

OBJECTIVES

To measure and understand the stress of professors in the undergraduate course of Medicine and Dentistry of a private educational institution in northeastern Brazil.

METHODS

Observational, descriptive and exploratory study with a quantitative approach was conducted between November 2018 and September 2019. A total of 184 professors participated in the study, answering the following instruments: demographic sociodata questionnaire, Stress Symptoms Inventory and the Preliminary Burnout Identification Questionnaire. The Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms Scale was applied to the 60 professors with stress. The data obtained were submitted to data analysis through Pearson's chi-square test and logistic regression.

RESULTS

Stress was present in 40.3% of the professors, with a predominance of the resistance phase (85%) and signs indicative of burnout. There was a significant correlation between the presence of stress and the time of traumatic event either with the individual himself or with some relative and/or close friend. There was no correlation between the traumatic events and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, although a significant correlation was observed between Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and burnout.

CONCLUSIONS

The results point to the need to properly identify and manage stress so that the teaching experience is healthy and conducive to the teaching-learning process.