Saúde mental e emocional de professores de escolas públicas estaduais da 15ª Coordenadoria Regional de Educação/RS

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the mental and emotional health of teachers from public state schools in Erechim, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, belonging to the 15th Regional Education Coordination (15th CRE/RS). The research problem guiding the study is: how do teachers from public state schools in Erechim, belonging to the 15th Regional Education Coordination/RS, perceive and experience their mental and emotional health? The general objective was to identify and analyze how teachers from public state schools in Erechim, belonging to the 15th Regional Education Coordination/RS, perceive and cope with their mental and emotional health. This is a quantitative-qualitative, cross-sectional study, with data collected through an online questionnaire administered via Google Forms, involving 38 teachers from the 21 state schools of Basic Education in Erechim. The instrument included sociodemographic and professional questions, questions regarding self-care practices and perceptions of one's own mental health, as well as the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20), an instrument validated by the World Health Organization for screening common mental disorders. Data analysis followed a descriptive-interpretative approach, combining descriptive statistical analysis with contextualized qualitative interpretation. The sample profile revealed a predominance of women (94.7%), an age range of 30 to 59 years, a high level of academic qualification (81.6% with postgraduate degrees), and an extensive workload: more than 65% of participants devote two or more hours per day to work outside their contracted working hours, and 60.5% reported being unable to rest adequately in recent weeks. The SRQ-20 results indicated significant psychological distress: 55.3% of participants obtained a score of 7 points or higher, which is the cutoff point indicative of psychological distress, with a mean score of 8.2. The most prevalent symptoms were nervous tension and worry (76.3%), easy fatigue (60.5%), insomnia (57.9%), and difficulties in carrying out activities with satisfaction (55.3%). The school environment factors most frequently identified as detrimental to mental health were excessive workload and lack of professional recognition (65.8% each), as well as interpersonal conflicts (63.2%). Regarding access to mental health care, only 28.9% of participants had undergone or were undergoing psychotherapy, whereas 44.7% had used or were using psychiatric medication, indicating a tendency toward the medicalization of psychological distress. The improvement strategies suggested by participants converged around three main areas: the availability of psychologists within the school environment (65.8%), continuing education in mental health (57.9%), and the creation of institutional spaces for individual and collective listening. The findings point to an urgent need for institutional and public policies aimed at promoting teachers' mental health, with coordinated interventions across individual, collective, and educational dimensions, reinforcing the importance of School Psychology as a strategic field for the comprehensive care of those who teach.