Conceptions of workers health, professional practices and the context in which organizational psychologists work

O adoecimento pelo trabalho esta intrinsecamente ligado ao modo como esse e organizado, sendo crescente a irrupcao de patologias mentais nos trabalhadores na contemporaneidade, em funcao dos processos de producao instaurados no modelo capitalista global vigente em nossos tempos. Ainda que o psicologo esteja entre os profissionais habilitados para a prevencao e tratamento de disturbios psiquicos, esta questao nao se faz presente no cotidiano de trabalho dos psicologos que atuam em empresas, cujas atividades profissionais sao direcionadas essencialmente para funcoes tecnicas e gestionarias. Esta pesquisa buscou investigar as explicacoes tecidas por estes profissionais sobre o adoecimento dos sujeitos na relacao com o trabalho e conhecer suas compreensoes sobre seu papel profissional, visando identificar vinculacoes entre estes dois aspectos. Partindo desta orientacao geral, foi possivel discutir elementos do proprio contexto de trabalho destes psicologos, o qual estabelece os contornos possiveis para sua atuacao. O metodo adotado foi a Etnografia, em uma perspectiva multissituada que abrangeu diferentes terrenos de pesquisa, perseguindo o objeto em suas diversas manifestacoes. O trabalho de campo contou com investigacoes bibliograficas, documentais e entrevistas individuais e grupais, realizadas com psicologos e com trabalhadores adoecidos pelo trabalho. A ligacao entre os materiais empiricos oriundos destes distintos momentos investigativos foi possibilitada pelo aporte de conceitos da teoria sociologica de Pierre Bourdieu, que auxiliou na compreensao do ambiente empresarial como um campo de disputas, cujos agentes ocupam posicoes na estrutura das relacoes que compoem tal campo, que delimitam suas praticas e atuam tambem sobre a construcao da sua subjetividade profissional. Constatou-se que embora a area reconhecida de atuacao profissional destes psicologos seja a Psicologia Organizacional, as teorias que informam suas praticas sao oriundas essencialmente da Administracao de Empresas, estando vinculadas a logica da gestao como principio racionalizador e de gerenciamento do comportamento humano, logica esta que se espraia dos contextos empresariais para os demais dominios da vida social. Consequentemente, as explicacoes produzidas por estes psicologos para o adoecimento dos trabalhadores sao formuladas a partir desta visao, que atribui a cada trabalhador a capacidade de manejar e gerir sua propria saude e, portanto, o adoecimento, que e justificado assim a partir de fatores individuais. Verificou-se que atividades voltadas para a saude dos trabalhadores nao pertencem ao escopo de trabalho dos psicologos organizacionais estudados, nao sendo sequer mencionadas por estes como passiveis de uma acao por parte desta categoria profissional no interior das empresas. Concluiu-se que, mesmo diante das limitacoes impostas pelo contexto, estas questoes devem ser debatidas com os psicologos, desde as etapas iniciais de sua formacao, visando ativar e potencializar resistencias e novos modos de fazer profissionalWork-related illness is intrinsically connected with the way work is organized. This is reflected in the increasing incidence of mental pathologies among workers nowadays as a result of production processes introduced as part of the prevailing global capitalist model. Although psychologists are qualified to prevent and treat these disorders, this is not part of the day-to-day work of psychologists who work in companies, as their professional duties normally involve essentially technical and managerial functions. This study sought to investigate the reasons put forward by these professionals for work-related illnesses and to understand their understandings of their professional role in order to identify links between these two areas. With these objectives in mind, aspects of these psychologists work context, which establishes the boundaries within which they act, were discussed. A multi-sited ethnographic approach covering different research locations and following the study object in its various manifestations was adopted. The fieldwork consisted of bibliographic and document researches and individual and group interviews with psychologists and workers with work-related illnesses. Connections were established between the various empirical data obtained during the different investigative phases with the aid of concepts from the sociological theory of Pierre Bourdieu. These helped to understand the business environment as a field of disputes whose agents occupy positions in the structure of relationships making up this field that impose limits on their practices and influence the construction of their professional subjectivity. It was observed that although organizational psychology is acknowledged to be the professional area in which these psychologists are trained to act, their practices are guided essentially by business administration and tied to the logicwhich spreads from business contexts to the other domains of social lifeof management as the principle by which human behavior can be rationalized and administered. Consequently, the explanations produced by these psychologists for work-related illness are formulated in terms of this view, according to which each worker is able to handle and manage his or her own health and, therefore, illnesses, which in turn are justified based on individual factors. Activities geared toward workers health were found not to fall within the scope of the work of the organizational psychologists studied and were not even mentioned by them as tasks that could be undertaken in companies by this group of professionals. In conclusion, notwithstanding the limitations imposed by the context, these issues must be debated with psychologists from the initial stages of their training in order to activate and reinforce resistance and reinvent their professional activitie