Qualidade de vida no trabalho, bem-estar e mal-estar no cotidiano de docentes dos cursos de pós-graduação em Desenvolvimento Regional

Abstract

The academic context in Brazil has undergone a series of transformations over the past few years. The academic environment has been gaining prominence in scientific research for revealing a stressful context with a high incidence of mental illness among students and teachers. In this context of Brazilian postgraduate courses, on the one hand, it has policies to encourage the development and qualification of stricto sensu courses, on the other hand, it observes a reduced reduction in the budget and, consequently, an increase in precariousness as a whole. The logic of productive specification gains its contours within Higher Education Institutions, fostering characteristics such as flexibility, specification, valuing quantity at the expense of quality, among others. Thus, the focus of this study is focused on the understanding of the Quality of Life at Work (QWL) of professors who work in graduate programs in Regional Development, their sources of well-being and discomfort and, consequently, their strategies of coping. The phenomenon is analyzed through three related dimensions: 1) The formation of the academic field of regional development; 2) an objective dimension of the set of activities performed by professionals (work conditions and organizational support and organization of work); 3) a dimension of the set of activities developed by professionals (social and professional relationships, recognition and meaning of work). Based on a survey carried out with 76 professors from graduate programs in Regional Development, through a data collection instrument consisting of: a) Structured characterization questionnaire; b) Quality of Work Life Assessment Inventory; c) Occupational Coping Scale; d) Adapted Workplace Well-being Scale It was proved, in general, that the factors related to teacher malaise are more directly related to working conditions, organizational support and work organization by the institution. On the other hand, it can be said that the teaching exercise, in turn, is based on subjective factors related to the meaning of work, recognition and socio-professional relationships. The results obtained also indicate that professors of graduate programs in Regional Development have more confidence in internal actors in the academic environment (students, professors and TAEs) than in external actors/institutions such as (TV, Merchants and Federal Government).