Health needs analysis based on the functional assessment of workers seen in primary care

Illness in workers and the configuration of health care services for this population constitute a major public health challenge in Brazil.

To evaluate factors associated with the activities and participation components of functioning in workers seen in primary care.

This was a cross-sectional study of 111 workers who completed a sociodemographic, occupational, and health questionnaire, as well as the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0. Results were analyzed using descriptive methods, the Mann-Whitney U test, and Spearman correlation coefficients.

Most workers were women (63.1%), with a mean age of 36.54 years, single (48.6%), with secondary education (33.3%), and a sedentary lifestyle (68.5%). Over 70% rated their health as "very good/good," were actively employed, and reported difficulties on at least one item of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule. Carrying out household activities, working, standing up, learning new tasks, and dealing with strangers were the items most frequently associated with mild/moderate disability. Walking for long distances, feeling emotionally affected, and engaging in community activities were the items for which the most severe/extreme difficulties were reported. Functioning was associated with education (p = 0.009), occupational status (p = 0.000), and perceived health (p = 0.000). The results indicated that less-educated individuals who were not actively working and had poor perceived health had the highest levels of disability.

Our results identified several functional difficulties in the working population. Interdisciplinary strategies are needed to address the activity limitations and restrictions to participation in workers seen in primary care.