Nível de atividade física e dor crônica dos professores do estado do Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

The Physical Activity Level is a determining factor to assess health conditions. Chronic pain influences the level of physical activity as the individual may stop performing physical activity due to pain. Teachers have several functions in addition to teaching, which influences the reduction of their leisure and rest time and the increase in workload. The lack of time to take care of their health generates several factors for illness and low quality of life for these teachers. The aim of this dissertation was to evaluate the level of physical activity and its association with chronic pain self-reported by teachers from Rio Grande do Sul. Cross-sectional, descriptive exploratory study with a quantitative approach that was part of a project entitled "Educação gerontológica como estratégia promotora da interação multigeracional para o viver e envelhecer saudável ” approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Passo Fundo, opinion 467,889. The sample consisted of 363 professors residing in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, who voluntarily agreed to participate in the study, which was conducted through an online questionnaire created in Google Forms. For analysis, the answer about self-reported chronic pain and pain intensity by the Pain Scale (Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale) and the level of physical activity (International Physical Activity Questionnaire) were considered. Research on the association of self-reported chronic pain and the level of physical activity in teachers is relatively scarce and the IPAQ questionnaire and the Pain Scale proved to be useful for this population. In the statistical analysis, to describe the profile of the sample, frequency tables of categorical variables were made, with values of absolute frequency (n) and percentage (%) and descriptive statistics of numerical variables. To compare categorical variables, the Chi-Square and Fisher's exact tests were used. The significance level adopted was 5%. As a result, this study demonstrates that teachers have a moderate and high level of physical activity (associated with low and severe pain). This dissertation is composed of two scientific productions: scientific production I, entitled "Physical activity and chronic pain in teachers in Rio Grande do Sul", in which the results are fully described, in the form of a scientific article and scientific production II, entitled "Chronic Pain in Teachers”, chapter of a book that reflects on teaching work associated with pain. With these productions, it is expected to contribute to the understanding of chronic pain among teachers living in Rio Grande do Sul, in order to support the development of strategies to improve the health and quality of life of this population.