AMBIENTE PROFISSIONAL E PERCEPÇÃO DO ESTRESSE PELO CIRURGIÃO-DENTISTA

Abstract

We realized a qualitative, exploratory study, with as participants 18 dentists living in the city of Goiânia, with the intention to understand the reality of occupational stress, through the eyes of these professional. Nine participants were men and nine were women. Two members of eight different specializations and two general practitioners constituted the sample. Data were collected in semi-structured interviews that were recorded and afterwards transcribed verbatim for analysis. The chosen method was Grounded Theory, consisting of a systematic inductive process of analysis, organization, categorization and progressive reduction of the categories in order to elaborate a theory that explains the data. The theory emerging from the data suggests that the sources of stress that affect these professionals are innumerous. Some are common to all specializations, but others are specific. The sources of stress that are most strongly present in the accounts concerned the relationship with patients, financial questions, long hours of confinement in a closed environment, the professional responsibilities, the elevated load of working hours and the present-day status of the profession. The effects of exposure to the sources of stress on the job are manifest in various ways, but the most strongly represented concerned physical complaints like pains and muscular-skeletal problems. While a great diversity of sources of stress was identified, the coping strategies were limited to few dimensions. Among these strategies, the most frequently reported was physical exercise, followed only at a large distance by others like: developing other interests besides dentistry, taking holidays and religious involvement.