OCCUPATIONAL STRESS OF PROFESSORS IN BRAZIL

Occupational stress and quality of working life (QWL) are the subjects approached in this research work. Occupational stress represents an intervening factor in work relations and life quality of professors in a higher-education federal network of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Thus, the research proposes to analyze the relation between occupational stress and QWL of highereducation professors, identifying its impacts, following Cooper's and Vilas Boas and Morin's approaches. This is a qualitative and exploratory research. A semi-structured interview was performed for data collection, with the participation of 34 professors, located in three campi, divided between the baixada and south of Rio de Janeiro. The selected professors work for more than two years in the federal network. The selected technique for data treatment was content analysis. There was the confirmation of stressful factors in work relations and their impact in the professors' life quality, subject of this research. There were found work leaves due to physical and mental diseases, change of campus, discharge of functions and the institute. In the narratives it was perceived how much suffering the professors demonstrated, almost a calling for help and they hope a public management takes care of the human resources, just as they manage the material resources. Other sources of pressure and dimensions were shown, which leads to reflect about the continuity of the research with the professors, to contribute to the strategies that balance the indicators affecting the professor's health, and assessed in this research, in order to minimize this situation.