Job satisfaction and absenteeism among Brazilian teachers.

Introduction: Teachers, especially those in primary education, face unfavorable working conditions, which lead to job dissatisfaction and affect their physical and mental health, thus contributing to absenteeism. Objectives: To verify the association between lower job satisfaction and absenteeism due to short and long term health problems in elementary and hight school teachers. Methods: This observational, analytical, individual, cross-sectional, retrospective cohort study included 899 elementary and high school teachers. Absenteeism was determined by self-reported absences in the last 12 months for health reasons, categorized as short term (1-7 days) or long term (≥8 days). Job satisfaction was measured by the Occupational Stress Indicator scale, categorized as lower satisfaction (≤25th percentile) or higher satisfaction (>25th percentile). Multinomial logistic regression was used, and the odds ratio was calculated as a measure of association. Results: The majority of the teachers were women (68.3%) and were permanently employed (69.1%); the mean age was 42 (SD, 10) years. Women, younger teachers, permanent employees, those reporting chronic pain or illness, and those reporting a moderate/poor level of physical or mental work capacity had a higher risk of absenteeism. Lower job dissatisfaction was associated with short-term and long-term absenteeism. Job satisfaction was only related to short-term absenteeism after the adjustments made. Conclusions: There was an association between absenteeism and lower job satisfaction, which indicates that measures to improve job satisfaction are necessary.