Social Vulnerability of Brazilian Metropolitan Schools and Teachers’ Absence from Work Due to Vocal and Psychological Symptoms: A Multilevel Analysis

Abstract

Teachers’ voices and psychological symptoms are the main reasons for absence from work. The objectives of this study were: (i) to spatially represent, through a webGIS, the standardized rates of teachers’ absences due to voice (outcome 1) and psychological symptoms (outcome 2) in each Brazilian Federative Unit (FU = 26 states plus Federal District) and (ii) to analyze the relationship between each national outcome rate and the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) of the municipality where urban schools are located, adjusted for sex, age, and working conditions. This cross-sectional study comprised 4979 randomly sampled teachers working in basic education urban schools, of which 83.3% are women. The national absence rates were 17.25% for voice symptoms and 14.93% for psychological symptoms. The rates, SVI, and school locations in the 27 FUs are dynamically visualized in webGIS. The multilevel multivariate logistic regression model showed a positive association between voice outcome and high/very high SVI (OR = 1.05 [1.03; 1.07]), whereas psychological symptoms were negatively associated with high/very high SVI (OR = 0.86 [0.85 0.88]) and positively associated with intermediate SVI (OR = 1.15 [1.13; 1.16]), in contrast with low/very low SVI. Being a woman (voice: OR = 1.36 [1.35; 1.38]; psychological: 1.22 [1.21; 1.24]) and working in schools with various precarious conditions (17 variables) increased the odds of being absent due to voice and psychological symptoms. The results confirm the need for investments to improve working conditions in schools.

How Can Internet Mapping Technologies Contribute to the COVID-19 Fight?

“…A study on communicating the high susceptible zone of COVID-19 and its exposure to population number were carried out through a Web-GIS dashboard for Indonesia cases (25). In Brazil, when investigating social vulnerability of Brazilian metropolitan schools and teachers' absence from work due to vocal and psychological symptoms, the national outcome rate, social vulnerability index, and school locations were dynamically visualized in webGIS (26). Programming Interface (API) of online mapping services, such as the Google Map API and Baidu map API, to acquire the estimated travel distance and time for detecting service areas of various travel modes (27).…”