A relação trabalho-saúde no ambiente de um hospital universitário

Abstract

This dissertation, part of the research line Psychosocial Processes of the Graduate Program in Psychology at the Federal University of Amazonas, investigated the relationship between work and health in the context of a federal university hospital in the Amazon. Structured in the format of two complementary scientific articles, the research articulates a theoretical analysis of national scientific production and an empirical investigation conducted at the Getúlio Vargas University Hospital (HUGV/UFAM). The first study, of bibliographic nature, consisted of a scoping review guided by the PRISMA-ScR protocol. Eleven articles published between 2020 and 2025 were analyzed; these addressed health–disease processes among workers in Brazilian university hospitals, with emphasis on the activity-centered perspective. The results showed a concentration of studies in the Southeast and South regions, a predominance of quantitative research focusing on nursing workers, and a scarcity of qualitative approaches that integrate theoretical frameworks such as use of self, renormalization, and real work. A significant theoretical-methodological gap was identified, compromising the understanding of the complexity of work in university hospitals and the formulation of effective public policies for the promotion of workers’ health. Based on this mapping, the second study was developed, an empirical-interventionist investigation conducted with women workers from HUGV, a strategic teaching hospital for the Amazon region. A qualitative approach grounded in Ergology and the Psychodynamics of Work was used, applying the QSATS 100-2020 and conducting Work Discussion Meetings (EST), tools that made it possible to access the meanings attributed to work activity by the workers and to identify the renormalizations operated in the face of tensions among care, teaching, and research. The results revealed that the Amazonian context imposes unique challenges on work organization, intensifying the use of self and the ethical, affective, and cognitive suffering of workers, particularly in the face of structural overload and institutional fragilities. The dissertation offers a theoretical contribution by highlighting the importance of understanding work from the concrete and situated experience of subjects, and a political contribution by valuing workers’ knowledge as a legitimate source of understanding and transformation. It reinforces the relevance of clinical and participatory devices for producing knowledge committed to the emancipation of subjects and the construction of collective strategies for health promotion at work. The study also presents a regional contribution by giving visibility to the specificities of health work in the Amazon, which have been traditionally underrepresented in scientific literature.

Keywords: Workers’ health; university hospitals; ergology; real work; amazon region; psychodynamics of work.