SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE USE OF MEDICINES FOR THE TEACHER'S WORK ACCORDING TO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS FROM THE MUNICIPAL NETWORK OF PETRÓPOLIS – RJ

Abstract

Daily, teachers are faced with situations of violence and demands in the school environment, in addition to the devaluation of the teaching work. These issues seem to produce more and more psychic suffering and, consequently, lead to the use of medication by some teachers. The objective of our research was to identify the social representations (SR) of the use of medication for the work of teachers according to elementary school teachers from the municipal network of Petrópolis - RJ. The study was carried out based on the theory of social representations (SRT), developed by Serge Moscovici, and on the central core theory (TNC), proposed by Jean-Claude Abric. 200 elementary school teachers who work in the municipal education network of that city participated in the research. As an instrument, we used a questionnaire that included a free association test, whose inducing term was 'use of medication for the teacher's work', in addition to exploratory questions on the theme and characterization of the participants. The data from this research were submitted to prototypical analysis, through the use of the EVOC 2005 software, in addition to descriptive analysis of the other data. The probable central core (NC) of the use of medications for the teacher's work included cognitions related to considering their use necessary (necessary) and to mental disorders and physical/mental symptoms (sadness, tiredness, anxiety and stress). The difficulties of the teaching work seem to be producing psychic suffering, and this is being increasingly medicalized.