Federal Public University Research Articles

Psychosocial factors associated with sickness absence in employees at a federal public university.

There is a need to understand which factors are associated with sickness absence in the context of public service in order to guide efforts to prevent illness in workers. We investigated whether lifestyle, locus of health control, work-related stress, and self-perception of physical and mental health are associated with sickness absence from a biopsychosocial perspective. This is a cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire and the participants comprised 898 employees at a federal university. The assessment included instruments on sociodemographic and occupational characteristics, sickness absence, lifestyle (FANTASTIC Lifestyle scale), locus of control (Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale), workrelated stress (Health Safety Executive), and physical and mental health (Short-Form Health Survey 12 - version 2). A Poisson regression model was constructed using Generalized Estimating Equations to identify the variables associated with sickness absence, with a p ≤ 0.05 significance level. We found that work-related stress, locus of control, physical and mental health, administrative or technical job role, female gender, and longer service time at the institution were associated with a higher number of days absent from work due to illness (for all associations, p < 0.001). The present study contributes to the literature by offering additional data on sickness absence in the context of Brazilian public university employees.

Sociodemographic factors associated with suicidal behavior at a federal public university in the Western Brazilian Amazon

RESUMO Objetivo: determinar os fatores de risco para o comportamento suicida entre estudantes e servidores de uma universidade pública federal da Amazônia Ocidental brasileira. Métodos: estudo do tipo transversal analítico de levantamento e associação entre variáveis com uma amostra de 475 participantes. As análises estatísticas foram feitas por Teste de Mann-Whitney, Teste Qui-Quadrado de Pearson, Teste da Razão de Verossimilhança ou Teste Exato de Fisher e modelo de regressão logística. Foi utilizado um nível de significância de 5% (p-valor &lt; 0,05). Resultados: foi encontrada maior proporção de comportamento suicida em participante com idade menor, sexo feminino, que não possuía religião ou possuía, mas não era praticante, que não tinha filhos e/ou possuía renda familiar mensal inferior a dois salários mínimos. Menores proporções de comportamento suicida foram identificadas em heterossexuais e/ou casados ou em união estável. Conclusão: o estudo sugere relação entre fatores sociodemográficos com o comportamento suicida na comunidade acadêmica estudada.

Um campo universitário-urbano no nordeste brasileiro: o caso da UNILAB

Abstract This paper initially presents and operates an analytical framework that allows us to critically analyze daily situations experienced in a university, not only formal or academic, stricto sensu situations. This framework is composed by the idea of the city-university field, social provisions, disturbances and problematic situations, the daily life and the experiences, the subfields and incumbents/insurgents. This analytical framework is constituted based on a public federal university, which has been deurbanized and internationalized and is located in small cities in the countryside of Northeastern Brazil. This university is deeply characterized by social diversity, including hundreds of students from African countries. Data was gathered, built, systematized and analyzed based on daily life immersion in the field, focusing on the impacts of implementation of the university in small cities, specially considering the challenges faced by students. Among the methodological resources used, it is important to point out the participant observation, documental analysis, questionnaires, statements and interviews. We conclude that the city-university field aggregates different agents, with subfields, incumbents/insurgents, cognitive schemes and shared meanings, as well as singular ways different agents deal with problematic situations. Besides, we evidence a conflictual centrality in the daily life dynamics, the presence of two cycles between 2011 and 2019 and the existence of persistent tensions between hegemonies and subalternities that are recreated. We understand, this, that this paper positively affects the studies and analyses on higher education and, more specifically, on universities in Brazil.

ANÁLISE DA FADIGA EM ENFERMEIROS DOCENTES DE UNIVERSIDADES PÚBLICAS BRASILEIRAS DURANTE A PANDEMIA DA COVID-19

ABSTRACT Objective: to analyze fatigue among nurse educators affiliated with Brazilian public universities while teaching online and hybrid courses during the Covid-19 pandemic. Method: qualitative, cross-sectional study addressing 318 nurse educators teaching in federal and state public universities between July and November 2021. The adapted and validated version of the Three-Dimensional Work Fatigue Inventory (3D-WFI) was used to assess fatigue. The means were compared, and variance analysis (ANOVA) was performed with the Bonferroni test and t-test. The statistically significant variables (p&lt;0.05) remained in the model. Results: the participants were 42 (± 9.4) on average; most were women, 279 (87.7%); 225 (70.8%) had children; and 313 (98.4%) reported performing house chores along with online teaching. In addition to the activities concerning undergraduate programs, 88 (27.7%) participants also performed activities in graduate programs. An association was found between course modality (entirely online or face-to-face, or hybrid) and the dimensions: physical fatigue (p=0.041), mental fatigue (p=0.001), and emotional fatigue (p=0.019), and between taking care of children and help them with school tasks while also teaching classes online and physical fatigue (p=0.012), mental fatigue (p=0.001), and emotional fatigue (p=0.000). Conclusion: the significant differences between course modality and the three dimensions of fatigue (physical, mental, and emotional) showed that the participants experienced physical and mental fatigue during and after work.

Validity study of the Three-Dimensional Work Fatigue Inventory among higher education nursing faculty.

to adapt and validate the Three-Dimensional Work Fatigue Inventory (3D-WFI) for Brazil's cultural reality and assess the psychometric properties. a methodological study developed in six stages: initial translation; synthesis of translations; back translation; review by expert committee; pretest; and review of the adaptation process by the researchers. For validity, the instrument was applied to a sample of 318 nursing professors from Brazilian federal and state public universities. Data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, composite reliability and instrument reliability (Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega). the 3D-WFI instrument showed excellent internal consistency (α=0.95 and ω=0.97), three dimensions and explained variance of 62.77%. the Brazilian version of the instrument showed excellent psychometric properties for assessing fatigue among Brazilian workers.

Autossabotagem e trajetória acadêmica de estudantes de graduação da área de Negócios

ABSTRACT This study examined the effect of using self-handicapping strategies on the academic path of undergraduate Business students. Previous studies have analyzed the effects of self-handicapping behavior on academic performance, thus not reflecting on a broader scope such as academic path. Therefore, analyzing the effect of self-handicapping on the academic path, based on a construct that represents academic life, makes it possible to highlight its impacts on major elements that, together, comprise the building of the students' path, such as: university setting, commitment to the course, student skills, involvement in course activities, study conditions, and academic achievement. Self-handicapping is associated with high levels of stress, depression, anxiety, and procrastination. So, assessing the effects of self-handicapping on the education of prospective organizational managers is especially important, as the consequences of continued use of self-handicapping strategies may go beyond the academic setting and affect social and affective issues of these people. Motivated by their views, beliefs, and stereotypes, which lead them to self-handicapping behavior, business leaders and managers can take actions that generate losses and frustrations in situations that require an assertive position in decisions taken in the organizational setting. This prevents the achievement of optimal solutions, which may result in economic bankruptcy and non-compliance with organizational goals and results. In this way, grasping the effect of self-handicapping on the academic path of students in the Business area creates conditions to mitigate it during their education, preventing the results of its continued use from going beyond the university setting and also causing losses in the corporate setting. A survey was carried out with students enrolled in six undergraduate courses in the Business area of a federal public university in southern Brazil. The sample had the participation of 212 undergraduate students and data analysis took place by using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results point out a moderate presence of self-handicapping behavior in research participants and confirm the hypothesis that self-handicapping negatively affects the academic path of undergraduate Business students. This effect tends to be greater among students over 25 years of age and among male students. Even with a moderate presence of self-handicapping behavior among the students under analysis, its effect on the academic path was negative and significant, which suggests that in samples with rather self-handicapping individuals, the academic path tends to be even more impacted.

Fatores sociodemográficos associados ao comportamento suicida em uma universidade pública federal da Amazônia Ocidental brasileira

ABSTRACT Objective: to determine risk factors for suicidal behavior among students and employees of a federal public university in the Brazilian Western Amazon. Methods: an analytical cross-sectional study of survey and association between variables with a sample of 475 participants. Statistical analyzes were performed using the Mann-Whitney test, Pearson’s chi-square test, likelihood ratio test or Fisher’s exact test and a logistic regression model. A significance level of 5% was used (p-value&lt; 0.05). Results: a higher proportion of suicidal behavior was found in younger participants, females, who had no religion or had one, but were non-practicing, who did not have children and/or had a monthly family income of less than two minimum wages. Lower proportions of suicidal behavior were identified in heterosexuals and/or married or in a stable relationship. Conclusion: the study suggests a relationship between sociodemographic factors and suicidal behavior in the studied academic community.

Prevalence and factors associated to depression and anxiety among medical students in an inland university in Brazil

Medical schools are known to be stressful environments for students and hence medical students have been believed to experience greater incidences of depression and anxiety than the general population or students from other specialties. The present study investigates the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms together with factors associated with them among medical students in a public federal university in the south of Brazil. A descriptive study was performed using self-administered questionnaires to access socio-demographic, institutional and health variables in association with two scales - Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI) and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) - designed to assess depressive and anxiety symptoms, respectively. The research sample consisted of 152 subjects. The depressive symptoms prevalence was 65.1% (BDI &gt; 9), state-anxiety was 98.6% and trait-anxiety 97.4% (STAI &gt; 33). Among women, 37.8% demonstrated moderate/severe depressive symptoms. High levels of state-anxiety symptoms and trait-anxiety symptoms were found in 44.7% of students under age 20. In the group with the lowest monthly income, it was observed the highest distributions for moderate/severe depressive symptoms, high state and high trait-anxiety symptoms, corresponding to 47.4%, 57.9% and 47.4%, respectively. Students attending the 3rd term of medical school had the highest percentage of moderate/severe depressive symptoms (62.5%) and high state-anxiety symptoms (50%). In addition, students who had both financial aid programs presented the highest percentages at moderate/severe depressive symptoms (46.2%), high state-anxiety symptoms (61.5%) and high trait-anxiety symptoms (46.2%). We also observed a correlation between depression and trait-anxiety symptoms (P = 0.037). In conclusion, it was identified as risk factors for depressive symptoms the previous depression diagnosis, previous search for health service due to psychological symptoms, being in financial aid programs, dissatisfaction with the medical school and inadequate psychological help offered by it. For state-anxiety symptoms and trait-anxiety outcome, there is an increased risk among low-income or students who have financial help from financial aid programs and younger age students.

Integration to higher education and mental health: a study in a brazilian public federal university

Os problemas de saúde mental entre os estudantes universitários ganharam grande visibilidade nos últimos anos. No entanto, ainda são escassos estudos que investiguem uma eventual relação entre o adoecimento mental de estudantes e aspectos da vida acadêmica. Diante dessa lacuna, este estudo tem como objetivo principal investigar a relação entre dimensões de integração ao ensino superior e sintomas de Transtornos Mentais Comuns em estudantes de graduação de uma universidade pública federal. Participaram da pesquisa 7.177 estudantes, que responderam questionário online contendo questões sociodemográficas, medidas de uma escala de integração ao ensino superior, e um instrumento de rastreio de sintomas de Transtornos Mentais Comuns SRQ-20 (Self-Reporting Questionnaire). Os resultados indicaram haver correlações entre fatores de integração social e acadêmica com sintomas de Transtornos Mentais Comuns. O modelo formado por dimensões acadêmicas e fatores psicossociais apresentou poder preditivo de 36,7%. O fator motivação para estudar apresentou o maior poder preditivo (β = -,303; t = ; p &lt; 0,01), seguido de satisfação com desempenho (β = -,191; t = -16,807; p &lt; 0,01); . Tais achados reforçam a necessidade de que as instituições de ensino superior atuem na promoção de saúde mental dos seus estudantes.

Sustainability in Public Universities through lean evaluation and future improvement for administrative processes

The positive results of manufacturing companies adopting lean production practices certainly impacted the adaptation of Lean Manufacturing principles to the service sector, culminating in what we know today as Lean Office. Based on this approach, many Universities have adopted lean principles and practices to improve their administrative processes and thus add value to their students, faculty and staff. From this perspective, but going further, the present research has the general objective of raising the main sustainable impacts generated by a University through the application of Lean Office in its administrative processes. Methodologically, the research is supported by a case study at a Federal Public University in Brazil, where two service processes will be analyzed, one aimed at students and the other at employees (teachers and technicians). The work is conducted according to the phases and steps recommended by the LEFI Method (Lean Evaluation and Future Improvement), with a significant part of the results obtained by the steps related to Value Stream Mapping. As the main results, it is observed that the elimination of waste in administrative processes at the University target of the present study culminated, only in the year 2021, in the saving of 444,754 sheets of printed paper that, due to all its consequences, indirectly impacted the economy of 1,380,000 L of water, in the non-emission of 43.82 kg of CO2 and the preservation of 67 trees.

The development of Brazilian women's and gender studies: a bibliometric diagnosis.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11192-022-04545-w.

An Application of a Gamified Approach to Learning of Knowledge Management: Evaluation of an Experience Report

In the current scenario, knowledge has become a valuable and indispensable organizational asset for the decision-making process in different types of organizations. Doing Knowledge Management, managing this business asset correctly, is a competitive advantage and an extremely important task. In this context, studies report that although knowledge has become an important asset, many organizations are unaware of or have difficulty managing this asset effectively. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the process of socialization and collaboration among the members of the organization, in order to stimulate the exchange of knowledge and the maintenance of existing knowledge in the organization, given the volatility of these assets. Thus, the objective of this work is to discuss and analyze the results obtained in an Experience Report that consisted the application of a gamification as a tool to support the teaching and learning of the knowledge management assets and process in the context of a Software Quality Laboratory, at a federal public university in Brazil. The data collected during the experiment were analyzed quantitatively. For this, Criteria, Research Questions, Metrics and Indicators were developed that guided this evaluation process in a quantitative way. At the end of the analysis of these data, the effectiveness and efficiency of this gamification proposal was proven in order to stimulate the teaching and learning process of knowledge management in Information Technology (IT).

ASSET MANAGEMENT: perspectives of accounting and extra accounting control of physical bibliographic collections in libraries of federal public institutions

The inherent peculiarities of the different types of libraries configure them as a favorable environment for the implementation of innovations in their administrative processes. As one of these processes highlights the patrimonial management of the physical bibliographic collections, which are consolidated as central to the organizational structure of the libraries, in this investigation we will specify the libraries of the federal public universities that corroborate this perspective. The present investigation aims to present the factors that can interfere in the quality of the patrimonial management of the physical bibliographic collections with the aim of providing an opportunity to reflect on the possibility of implementing innovations in the process. The investigation was methodologically based on a bibliographic investigation that allowed the researchers to have a constructive theoretical basis on the subject studied. As a result, the complexity of the security process of the physical bibliographic collection is perceptible in view of the vulnerability of the informative materials and the number of variables that act on them that end up intensifying this scenario of degradation.

Effects of the neoliberal agenda on academic results at federal universities

With the emergence of debates about the weight of federal public universities' budgets in public accounts, the development of scientific research that present data on such issues to society becomes relevant. In this context, this work sought to identify the effects on the academic performance of Federal Institutions of Higher Education (FIHE) caused by the application of the neoliberal agenda in the budget formation of these institutions. For this purpose, the adopted methodology grouped the universities based on their similarities, using the cluster analysis method, and verified the existence of a correlation between the budget and performance variables. The results found point to a scenario of disruption in FIHE budgets, represented by attacks on the financing model of these institutions under arguments of inefficient performance based on incomplete or biased analyses. In addition, the emergence of the application of neoliberal measures generates signs of a change in the profile of actions carried out within universities, moving from a vanguard place in the generation of scientific knowledge to a kind of service provider in which market demands are met through financial support.

The University as an Ecological Territory of the Incoming Student: virtual inclusion during the COVID-19 pandemic

The article aims to present the ecological territory as an extension project with students entering a federal public university in the south of Brazil while performing virtual workshops during the COVID-19 pandemic. The realization of virtual workshops of the IN project focused on the incoming student (IN) and provided group meetings on themes of the university scope. Thus, we intend to present the experience of developing meetings in virtual workshops in everyday life, considering ecological territory as a daily life to be known and explored by students. The ecological universe gives the university a sense of relationship in an intersectoral and participative nexus in the dynamic spheres, which is vital to academic and personal development. This descriptive and qualitative study covers 32 meetings out of 437 virtual invitations sent, reaching the voluntary participation of 62 students enrolled in the IN Virtual Workshops. Through the content analysis method, we obtained qualitative results from the field diaries in the virtual workshops regarding the sense of belonging, vulnerability, distance education, and social support network. It concludes by excluding online alternatives of contact with incoming students as a public policy of inclusion and university permanence and identifying themselves as a way of welcoming and preventing mental health.

Sustainability in Higher Education Institutions in the Amazon Region: A Case Study in a Federal Public University in Western Pará, Brazil

Sustainable development (SD) in higher education has occupied the agenda over recent decades. Higher education institutions make efforts to promote sustainability in education, curriculum, research, outreach, and campus operations. This article aims to analyze the level of implementation of sustainability in higher education in the Amazon. The specific objectives of this paper are to identify the curriculum greening (CG) characteristics in institutional development plans (IDPs) and to analyze the perceptions of students from a higher education institution in the Amazon region about sustainability. It follows a qualitative approach, with documentary research and questionnaires applied to students. Analysis content was used in the data analysis. The main findings are the presence of some CG characteristics in institutional documents that were analyzed as a commitment to the transformation of society–nature relations, contextualization, disciplinary order, democracy, theory and practice, students as knowledge protagonists, cognitive aspects, alternative scenarios, and methodological adequacy. The results show that commitment to sustainability cannot just be a declaration of good intentions. It is essential to discuss the ways of implementing sustainability in the academic environment, as it implies changes in epistemological, political, and social conceptions.

Challenges for university teacher education in Brazil posed by the Alpha Generation

The idea of generation has been used as a theoretical construct to understand the characteristics of age groups born in the same historical period. Currently, children born from 2010 onwards are considered to form generation Alpha, which has access to digital information and communication technologies from an early age. In this article, we develop a discussion that addresses the theme of the Alpha generation to problematize initial teacher education. An empirical study was conducted with 57 teacher degree undergraduates from a federal public university in Brazil. The participants’ answers indicate that they are aware of the new generations’ challenges and critically analyze the formative processes they access.

Dor crônica, ansiedade e sintomas depressivos em estudantes de Enfermagem em tempos de pandemia

ABSTRACT Objectives To identify the manifestations of chronic pain (CP), anxiety, and depressive symptoms in nursing students at a federal public university in pandemic times, analyzing the association between these variables and to describe population characteristics. Method This was a quantitative, cross-sectional, observational, and analytical study carried out from July to November 2020 with a sample of 119 nursing students enrolled in the second half of 2020. Questionnaires were used to characterize sociodemographic and lifestyle habits, the body map of the Multidimensional Pain Evaluation Scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Results Nursing students in the studied sample are mostly female, with a mean age of 23.4 years, and 37.8% live with CP. Students with CP had higher anxiety levels and more depressive symptoms. There was an association between PC, anxiety, and depressive symptoms in this sample. Conclusion During the pandemic period investigated, an association was found between PC, anxiety, and depressive symptoms in the population of nursing students at the studied university, indicating that those who live with PC experience higher anxiety levels and more depressive symptoms than students without PC.

Desafios simbólicos da universidade: a perspectiva de estudantes sobre a permanência

ABSTRACT This article is part of the discussions about social inclusion in public universities, specifically about university permanence. With the contributions of Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological theory, we analyze the perceptions of students about their experiences related to university permanence, delving into the symbolic mechanisms present in student journeys at a federal public university. The methodology employed for the research used questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with undergraduate students enrolled in different periods and courses. The research results indicate that there is recognition of the relevance of financial aid to enable attendance, but students raise symbolic challenges that interfere with staying in the university. The symbolic dimension is present in the students’ accountability for their performance, related to the academic difficulties with the required cultural content and the teachers’ practices that little help students with greater gaps in academically profitable cultural capital. We consider that the data from the interviews, as well as the suggestions indicated by the students to improve permanence, reveal arguments present in the university field. Therefore, the presence of new agents enables changes in the disputes of the field, which presents symbolic limits conducting the proposal of social inclusion in an institution that tends to consecrate the relations of force in society.

O Chão da Fábrica da Avaliação do Trabalho Docente Universitário: The Factory Floor: the Evaluation of Teaching Labor in Universities

The present article investigates how Federal Public Universities in Brazil are reorganizing themselves in the form of Social Organizations – OS, emulating country’s historical and social itinerary, as well as synthesizes and develops reification processes. The paper exposes the constitutive nexuses of the UFP’s reorganization amidst political ramifications within the Brazilian nation, with the mediations and historical processes that these changes have been hiding and developing in the teaching occupation. The reification emerges as an explanatory category of this process, presenting, as its substance, policies such as teaching performance evaluation and career progression as defining aspects of the academic production. Keywords: Teaching Labor; Reification; Evaluation Policies.