Odaleia Barbosa de Aguiar

Dimensional structure of the demand control support questionnaire: a Brazilian context

According to Karasek, job strain results from an interaction between high demands and low decision latitude.PurposeTo reassess the dimensional structure and evaluate the internal consistency of demand control support questionnaire (DCSQ), a shortened version of job content questionnaire that was not sufficiently evaluated in validation studies.MethodsThe study investigated 825 workers who completed the DCSQ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; to 399 workers, the questionnaire was self-administered at a hospital (2004–2005), and 426 workers were interviewed at nine restaurants (2006–2007). Confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation models was used to test theoretical structure of dimensionality. Internal consistency was evaluated by composite reliability and convergent validity by average variance extracted.ResultsConfirmatory factor analysis supported the instrument in three dimensions: demands, skill discretion and decision authority. The best fit model was achieved by removing social support at work and the item repetitive work (skill discretion). A cross-loading from learning new things on demands and an error measurement correlation between work fast and work intense were confirmed. Composite reliability was acceptable for all dimensions, except for demands (0.58), which also showed inadequate average variance extracted (0.32). This final model was confirmed in separate analyses according to work setting, but the loadings of demands were lower for restaurant workers.ConclusionOur results indicated that skill discretion and decision authority formed two distinct dimensions. Additionally, the item repetitive work should be removed, as well as one of the items work fast or work intense (demands). Future research is still required to confirm these findings.

Gestão de competências e qualificação profissional no segmento da alimentação coletiva

OBJETIVO: Identificar a qualificacao e a competencia dos trabalhadores do segmento de alimentacao coletiva. METODOS: O recorte deste estudo qualitativo privilegiou o grupo de cozinheiros e nutricionistas como sujeitos sociais que detem os atributos que a investigacao pretendeu revelar. O trabalho de campo foi realizado a partir de entrevistas individuais semi-estruturadas, em cozinhas industriais administradas por terceiros ou auto-gestao, no Estado do Rio de Janeiro. RESULTADOS: O estudo evidenciou que a qualificacao do grupo de cozinheiros se da pelo aprender a fazer, isto e, a experiencia em cozinhas habilita ao desenvolvimento de atividades de preparos de alimentos, levando, em media, de tres a quatro anos de trabalho no segmento para ascender ao posto de cozinheiro. O nutricionista percebe a competencia dos trabalhadores no seu potencial de lideranca. Para os cozinheiros esta pode ser reconhecida na sua capacidade de liderar, satisfazer o cliente, acompanhar os avancos tecnologicos, atualizar-se no que se refere aos cardapios e considerar o custo nas preparacoes. CONCLUSAO: Aponta-se a necessidade da normalizacao das competencias e de introducao de um sistema de certificacao tecnica, com vistas ao sucesso da gestao de pessoas.

Descrição sócio-demográfica, laboral e de saúde dos trabalhadores do setor de serviços de alimentação dos restaurantes populares do estado do Rio de Janeiro

OBJECTIVE: This study described a population of foodservice workers, focusing on their sociodemographic, labor and health characteristics. METHODS: This sectional study included 426 (98%) workers of popular foodservices of the state of Rio de Janeiro who answered a questionnaire administered by trained interviewers. Associations were investigated with the Pearsons chi-square test or the Fishers exact test for small samples. RESULTS: Most of the workers were males (62.7%). The mean age of the workers was 35.1 years (SD=10.3). Very few workers (11.3%) had had less than 4 years of formal education and 42.2% had had from 5 to 8 years of formal education. The following environmental stressors were mentioned with decreasing order of importance: temperature (90.1%), noise (51.2%), physical effort (36.2%) and luminosity (10.5%). The medical diagnoses included work-related musculoskeletal disorders (15.0%), hypertension (14.3%), gastritis (12.7%) and diabetes mellitus type II (2.1%). The most common work accidents in the 12 months prior to the interview were cuts (20.2%) and bruises (16.0%). CONCLUSION: The data showed that although different jobs are affected by the work environment, wages and qualification, these factors had a greater impact on the general service assistants.

Treinamento de escolares de 7 a 10 anos para o preenchimento de um Diário Alimentar

INTRODUCAO: E reconhecida a efetividade de um treinamento para melhorar a qualidade no relato do consumo alimentar em adultos, porem poucos estudos avaliam esta efetividade em criancas. OBJETIVO: Investigar o efeito da realizacao de um treinamento para o desenvolvimento de habilidades para um correto preenchimento de um Diario Alimentar, por escolares de 7 a 10 anos. METODOLOGIA: O estudo foi conduzido em uma escola publica da cidade de Sao Paulo e envolveu a realizacao de 3 sessoes de treinamento de 30 minutos cada, direcionadas a 40 escolares de ambos os sexos. Para verificacao do efeito do treinamento, 3 examinadores avaliaram o preenchimento dos dados antes e apos o mesmo. Foram atribuidos escores de 0 a 5 para aspectos relativos a identificacao, detalhamento e quantificacao do alimento consumido, e calculado o escore medio a partir dos escores de cada examinador para cada aspecto. Utilizou-se o teste de Wilcoxon para comparacao de amostras dependentes. RESULTADOS: Foi constatada evidencia estatistica de diferenca entre os escores antes e apos o treinamento para os tres aspectos: identificacao (p < 0,001), detalhamento (p = 0,003) e quantificacao do alimento (p < 0,001), sendo grande parte dos valores apos o treinamento maiores que os iniciais. CONCLUSAO: E possivel aumentar a habilidade de escolares de 7 a 10 anos no preenchimento de um Diario Alimentar a partir da realizacao de um treinamento nos moldes apresentados neste artigo.

Association of socioeconomic, labor and health variables related to Food Insecurity in workers of the Popular Restaurants in the city of Rio de Janeiro

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the prevalence of perceived food insecurity in households of employees of Popular Restaurants, as well as associate this perception with socioeconomic, labor and health variables. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of 273 workers from seven restaurants located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We applied a questionnaire with different scales and anthropometric measurements were taken. Assessment of food insecurity was performed using the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale, classifying individuals in food security and food insecurity. The analyses were performed by calculating the gross and adjusted odds ratio. The logistic regression was performed considering three groups of variables: socio-economic, employment and health. Results: The estimated prevalence of food insecurity was 53.7%. The variables: education (OR=2.39; 95%CI=1.38-4.16), time working in kitchens <29 months (OR=2.72; 95%CI=1.44-5.16) and opinion on the satisfaction with food composition and regularity (OR=2.01; 95%CI=1.12-3.57) were significantly associated with food insecurity. Conclusion: Although the study population find themselves inserted into a social facility to promote food security, food insecurity results are worrying. Additionally, factors like lower education and less time working in restaurants increased the chance to realize their households in food insecurity.

Food insecurity and social support in families of children with sickle-cell disease

OBJECTIVE To examine the associations between food insecurity (IA) and social support in families of children with sickle-cell disease (DF). METHODS This cross-sectional study in families of 190 children from five to nine years old in follow-up at a hematology referral hospital in Rio de Janeiro State. IA was measured using the Brazilian food insecurity scale and social support was measured using the Brazilian version of the MOS social support survey instrument. The relation between IA and social support was analyzed by way of a multinomial logistic model. RESULTS There was IA in 62.2% of the families, in moderate and severe form in, respectively, 11.1% and 7.9% of cases. In families of children with DF, levels of mild and severe food insecurity (IALe and IAGr) were found to relate inversely to levels of social support in the following dimensions: informational support (IALe OR=0.98; 95% CI 0.96-0.99 and IAGr OR=0.95; 95% CI 0.92-0.98); social interaction (IALe OR=0.98; 95% CI 0.96-0.99 and IAGr OR=0.96; 95% CI 0.93-0.99) and tangible social support (IALe OR=0.97; 95% CI 0.96-0.99 and IAGr OR=0.97; 95% CI 0.94-0.99). CONCLUSION Considering the positive effects of social support on IA, public policies should be encouraged to assure food and nutritional security and social assistance for care for people with DF. Also, social support groups for people with DF should be strengthened.

Associação entre sobrepeso, obesidade e transtornos mentais comuns em nutricionistas

Objective To analyze the association between overweight, obesity and common mental disorders in professional nutritionists from public hospitals in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Methods Sectional study of 289 nutritionists in public hospitals in Rio de Janeiro, from October 2011 to August 2012. The body mass index (kg/m2) was used to measure height and weight, and common mental disorders (CMD) by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Socio-demographic (socio-economic status – SES), labor-related and health variables were also included in the study. Results The prevalence of overweight and obesity were 32.3% and 15.3% respectively and 37.7% of CMD. Multivariate analysis showed no significant association after adjusting for SES variables, work-related and health (OR = 0.60, 95% CI 0.32 to 1.10 for overweight and OR = 1.09, 95% CI 0.50 to 2.37 for obesity). Conclusion There was no significant association between excess weight (overweight and obesity) and CMD. However were found high prevalence of overweight, obesity and CMD, which points to the need for health promotion and prevention strategies for dealing with a population of workers involved with the care of the population.