Defensive strategies against suffering at work by stricto sensu postgraduate professors

Abstract

The study aimed to identify the defensive strategies against suffering at work developed by stricto sensu graduate professors. It was a descriptive research with a qualitative approach. Forty-seven professors from a university in the South of Brazil participated, who answered a questionnaire based on the Inventory on Work and Illness Risks, two representatives from each of the university's seven stricto sensu graduate programs were also interviewed. The investigation was approved by the institution's Ethics Committee and data collection took place between October 2018 and March 2019. Professors use, predominantly, individual defense strategies, among them are psychotherapy, religiosity/spirituality and family support, shyly followed by collective strategies, these centered on a good relationship with co-workers and students, who are responsible for giving new meaning to work practices, however they require more investment from the institutions. Such findings generate concern once it is understood that it is in the collectivity that occurs cooperation, empathic relationship, dialogicity, and transformation of work reality.