Presenteeism among fruit farm workers in Northeast Brazil: cross-sectional study

Abstract

The scientific literature about presenteeism among farm workers is scarce. This study estimated the prevalence of and factors associated with presenteeism among paid fruit farm workers. A cross-sectional study investigated 340 paid employees of both sexes, aged 18 years or above, who worked during the 2019 irrigated fruit harvest in the municipality of Petrolina, Northeast Brazil. Information about sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, general health status, occupational characteristics, interpersonal work aspects, and the work environment's structural characteristics was collected in a structured questionnaire. Presenteeism was established when participants reported working one or more days during the previous season despite feeling ill or when injured. Cox regression was used to estimate prevalence ratios adjusted by sex, area of residence (urban or rural), employment contract (permanent or seasonal), satisfaction with management, participation in workplace decision-making, availability of on-site healthcare facilities, and on-site availability of sunscreen. The prevalence of presenteeism during the previous season was high: 58.2%. In the final multivariate model, the adjusted prevalence ratio was higher (≥1.20) among female workers (1.42), workers dissatisfied with management (1.28), and those for whom sunscreen was not available on site (1.

Prevalence of Presenteeism in Agricultural Workers: Systematic Review

“…The prevalence of 5% reported by Arcury et al (2012) is much lower than that of 58.2% reported by Siqueira and Carvalho (2022). Perhaps, this difference could be explained by the characteristics of the participants.…”

“…The studies were published in 2012 and 2021, conducted in the United States (Arcury et al, 2012) and in Brazil (Siqueira & Carvalho, 2022), targeting samples of tobacco ( n = 300) and fruit extraction ( n = 340) agricultural workers, respectively. Both studies had cross-sectional designs, presented sampling size calculation, used stratified sampling, and investigated presenteeism as an outcome; data for both studies were collected through structured questionnaires (Table 1).…”

“…Among immigrant farm workers in North Carolina (Arcury et al, 2012), the prevalence of presenteeism was 5% and it was associated with a poor work safety climate. Among paid fruit farm workers in Brazil (Siqueira & Carvalho, 2022), the prevalence of 58.2% was associated with feminine sex, dissatisfaction with management, and unavailability of sunscreen at the workplace. In both studies, presenteeism was self-reported, measured according to the same definition (worked for at least one day despite being injured or ill in the last season), and presented as a dichotomous variable (yes or no) (Table 3).…”

“…The studies rated 7 (Arcury et al, 2012) and 8 (Siqueira & Carvalho, 2022) points, respectively, in the Newcastle-Ottawa scale that allows a maximum of 10 points. The quality assessment of the two selected studies is summarized in Table 2.…”