Occupational Stress of Military Police in the Vale do Paranhana Region, Brazil

Abstract

Current analysis discusses whether military police of a town in the Vale do Paranhana, interior of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, are under occupational stress. Research also debates whether their professional work affects their lives by identifying the stress-generation factors and detecting strategies to cope with them. The descriptive, quantitative and qualitative method was employed with EVENT (Work Stress Vulnerability Scale) and data were analyzed by Statistical Program for Social Sciences (SPSS) 20.0. A semi-structured interview was then undertaken with professionals with high stress rates. Forty military police, males and females, aged between 25 and 49 years, participated in current research. Results showed that participants were stressed, especially those allotted to external work. Main causes for stress were issues related to infrastructure and work routine, such as lack of equipments, precarious material and changes in work shifts. More care should be devoted to the professionals, while strategies should be adopted for emotional and social props, coupled to changes in the infrastructure.