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Harassment at work? Empowerment and autonomy as coping strategies of young workers

Issue title: IEA 2012: 18th World congress on Ergonomics - Designing a sustainable future

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Turte, Samantha Lemos | Correa, Maria Eduarda Cavadinha | da Luz, Andrea Aparecida | Fischer, Frida Marina

Affiliations: Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil | Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, University of São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil

Note: [] Corresponding author. Address: Faculdade de Saúde Pública/USP – Departamento de Saúde Ambiental – Av. Doutor Arnaldo, 715 – 2° andar - CEP:01246-904, São Paulo,SP, Brasil. E-mail: samturte@usp.br. Phone: +55 11 30617755

Keywords: Occupational health, workplace harassment, adolescent workers, mental health, health promotion

DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0916-5674

Journal: Work, vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 5674-5676, 2012

Published: 2012
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Abstract

There is a considerable number of researches about workplace violence, but few relate young workers and work harassment. This study aimed to investigate the reported perceptions of young apprentices and trainees about moral harassment at work and related coping strategies. Forty adolescent workers (22 men and 18 women) between 15 and 20 years old who received training by a non-governmental organization in São Paulo, Brazil, participated in the study. Data collection included individual and collective interviews. It was used an in-depth semi structured interview protocol. The discourses were analyzed using the hermeneutic-dialectic frame. Results showed that young workers reported little or no knowledge of strategies to cope with moral harassment at work, showing vulnerability to the effects of aggression. Effective coping strategies at work should embrace two important concepts of health promotion: empowerment and autonomy.

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