Representações sociais do trabalho e da qualidade de vida para servidores de bibliotecas universitárias

Abstract

Brazilian academic libraries multiplied and modernized as a result of mandatory evaluations of the Federal System of Higher Education. In UFRN, the system is consisted of 22 libraries.Factors such as traditional management, divergent values and beliefs, repetitive, boring or challenging tasks, which requires modern technologies and the extensive operation of libraries, are objects of tensions and conflicts that affect work and other aspects of life.The questions of this survey are focused on consensual understandings on work and quality of life of employees from these libraries to identify possible similarities between these phenomena. The study is based on the Theory of Social Representations (TSR) of Serge Moscovici, and primarily uses the perspective of Dimensional Approach, in addition to Denise Jodelet's Dynamic Approach. Its purpose is to characterize social representations of work, quality of life and analyze possible associations between these phenomena. It presentes concurrent mixed approach, with a predominance of qualitative aspects, exploratory, descriptive and cross-sectional design, with comprehensive data collection. Thirty individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted, with monothematic, open questions about work and quality of life; objective questions about behaviors and attitudes related to the studied phenomena; subjective perception of quality of life (WHOQOL-Bref), and socio-demographic and labor data to outline the profile of the participants. The interviews were analyzed with the aid of a textual analysis software and objective data with descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed heterogeneous Social Representations of work. The meaning of work was related to pleasure, balance, harmony and growth opportunity, but also subsistence, obligation, responsibility and duty. Social Representations on Quality of Life (QoL) content was also polysemic. QoL was related especially for desire of balance (family x labor, health x money, physical x emotional), drawing attention to the importance of social relationships (family, friends, co-workers) for acquiring more QoL.Statistical analyzes identified little variations among age ranges; however, the greater the age, the lower the QoL score in the WHOQOL-Bref. On average the participants achieved good scores in the perception of QoL. Lower scores for work environment showed dissatisfaction with ergonomic aspects of work. It is expected that this study contributes to new perspectives on labor and quality of life and foster indications and guidelines for internal actions and strengthen institutional policies.