Afastamento do trabalho por depressão em docentes da rede pública

Depression is an increasingly prevalent mood disorder. It may reduce one’s professional productivity by 10% and is considered one of the most disabling diseases. In Brazil, depression affects 11.5 million people and is among the most frequent causes of work leave. One of the vulnerable professions is teaching: teachers deal with low pay, lack of material resources and structure, high workload, and excessive demand, among other issues. The objective of the study was to analyze the profile of public school teachers who left work due to depression between 2009 and 2017, as well as to evaluate the characteristics of the leave and the rate of recidivism. Data collection was carried out through the computerized database of the medical forensic sector of the state of Sergipe and included 239 teachers. These professionals were predominantly female, had completed higher education, were married and middle-aged. Depression was the main cause of work leave when compared to other mental disorders. Their workload was 200 hours a month, they had been working for a mean of 18.5 years, and the mean number of days absent from work was 194.5 days, with code F32 of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th edition (ICD-10), being the most prevalent diagnosis. More than half of the professionals presented recurrence, with a mean of 4.04 recurrences per teacher. This novel, unique study reveals data from a real-life setting that is little studied in Brazil and was never studied in the state Sergipe, evidencing the need for immediate investigation in order to facilitate the planning and implementation of improvements.