Fatores psicológicos positivos e sintomas de estresse pós-traumático em trabalhadores do sistema penitenciário no sul do Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between positive psychological factors (resilience, optimism and satisfaction with life) and symptoms of post-traumatic stress in prison officers, administrative agents and senior prison technicians in the prison system in the southern region of Rio Grande do Sul. To measure the scores of symptoms of PostTraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM5 (PCL-5) was used and for the identification of positive psychological factors were used: a life satisfaction scale (SWLS), for life satisfaction, the Life Orientation Test (LOT-R) to verify optimism and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISK-10) to measure resilience. The collection of socio-demographic data was carried out through a selfadministered questionnaire. In total 116 workers in the penitentiary system in the south of Rio Grande do Sul responded adequately to the survey instruments. No significant differences were found between sex (p = 0.125), education levels (p = 0.316), position held (p = 0.630), working time (p = 0.758), age (p = 0.316) or marital status (p = 0.188) in relation to the outcome of PTSD symptoms in this sample. The PTSD symptom scores showed a negative and statistically significant correlation with the resilience scores (r = -0.24; p = 0.009) and with the satisfaction scores (r = -0.30; p = 0.001), indicating that the higher the participant's PTSD symptom scores, the lower the resilience and satisfaction scores. No significant correlation was found between PTSD symptoms and optimism scores (r = 0.13; p = 0.139). The study identified that previously working on the positive psychological factors in these workers, especially resilience and satisfaction with life, enables better management by these people in stressful situations and that the planning of actions to promote motivational strategies by the institution can be interesting.