Níveis de engajamento no trabalho de policiais militares do interior do estado de São Paulo

Abstract

Military police officers face situations of risk, since they work directly with violence and death. These professionals are exposed to great psycho-emotional stress and are subject to physical and social aggression, which requires a great deal of WORK engagement. Activity. Objectives: To evaluate levels of work engagement in military police officers from the Interior Police Command - 5th Region (CPI-5) of São Paulo State and to verify association between levels of engagement at work and socio-demographic and professional variables of the policemen. Method: Cross-sectional and descriptive study, with a non-probabilistic sample of military police officers from the Interior Police Command - 5th Region (CPI-5) of São Paulo state. Data collection used an instrument with variables related to socio-demographic and professional profile of policemen, and Brazilian version of Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES). Guidelines of Preliminary Manual UWES - Utrecht Work Engagement Scale was used to calculate work engagement. T test for two means and analysis of variance (ANOVA) for three or more means were used; a significance level of 95% (p≤0.05) was considered. Results: A total of 506 police officers have participated; they were predominantly male (88.5%), aged between 31 and 40 years old (36.2%), married (66.8%), with high school (57.5%), soldiers (38.5%), in operational functions (60.5%), with a workload of 12x24 or 12x48 hours (53.2%), full-time (80.0%), with 10 to 20 years of experience in Military Police (35.4%) and with no other paid activity (85.2%). Work engagement levels were high in all dimensions of UWES scale: dedication (4.9); absorption (4.0), vigor (4.6) and general score (4.5). Military police officers aged 31 and over had significantly lower levels of dedication than younger professionals (p=0.000) and single police officers had significantly higher levels of dedication (p=0.009). The level of dedication was lower between cables (p=0.006) and there was a tendency to reduce levels of vigor (p=0.009) and general score (p=0.006) among professionals of lower rank. Police officers who performed operational activities had a lower level of absorption (p=0.000); those who worked eight hours a week had higher levels of dedication (p=0.030) and absorption (p=0.000); and professionals with up to three years of experience in Military Police had higher levels of dedication (p=0.000), absorption (p=0.006) and vigor (p=0.000). Police officers who practiced physical activity showed a higher level of dedication (p=0.004) and those who reported not having problems that compromise their quality of life showed higher levels of dedication (p=0.000) and absorption (p=0.000). Conclusion: Military police officers showed high levels of work engagement, despite possible precarious working conditions and professional risks. The study has showed that Interior Police Command (CPI-5) is a work environment favorable to the military work engagement. The study contributes with important results for the military corporation, capable of subsidizing the implementation of organizational interventions that strengthen the positive relationship of police with the work environment and the improvement of health and quality of life of these professionals.