Mental Health: 1 in 5 professionals are dissatisfied with an imbalance between personal and professional life

In addition to directly affecting health, Covid-19 generates economic, psychological and social impacts. To understand how Brazilians evaluate well-being after the emergence of the coronavirus, the Ipsos Institute carried out a survey at the request of Dasa Empresas, manager of benefits and corporate health solutions of the Dasa integrated health network.

The survey was carried out virtually from November 29 to December 16, 2021 with 1,014 employees from companies that have at least 400 employees. People from the five regions of the country, from 18 years old, were heard, being 51% women and 49% men. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Of those interviewed, 4% call themselves belonging to class A, 32% to class B and 64% to class C.

The online questionnaire was based on three pillars: “Behavior in relation to Health”; “Health Plan” and “Companies Performance and Communication”.

“The survey found that, despite general satisfaction with quality of life and health, part of Brazilians are dissatisfied with some aspects: a third report dissatisfaction with the quality of sleep, almost a quarter are dissatisfied with food and disposition and energy to perform daily tasks, while 20% are dissatisfied with the balance between personal and professional life, and 21% with a low ability to concentrate”, says Rafael Motta, director general of Dasa Empresas.

The highlights are for respondents from the North region: 40% say they are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their willingness and energy to perform daily tasks, ahead of the dissatisfaction of 26% in the national average. Those in the Midwest, on the other hand, have the lowest average of discontent, with only 18%. “In addition, one in three young people, aged 18 to 29, report problems when it comes to sleep quality and disposition and balance between personal and professional life”, completes Motta.

Two-thirds of respondents (66%) agree that they should take better care of their health, but they cannot. Problems considered attitudinal, such as lack of discipline (41%) and lack of time (29%), followed by financial (34%) and not-so-healthy food options (31%) are cited as the biggest impediments.

When it comes to disease prevention, 58% of people say they only go to the doctor when they identify a problem. In addition, less than half of respondents (47%) undergo preventive examinations once a year, with 28% arguing that they are afraid of this practice for fear of what they might discover.

“This data brings an alert for the sector’s players to reinforce education policies with an emphasis on performing correctly indicated exams as a key factor for prevention and early diagnosis. Thus, care and screening gaps can be addressed in a way that chronic diseases or other diseases can be discovered at the beginning, improving the prognosis and shortening the trajectory of overcoming or controlling the diseases”, says Leonardo Vedolin, director general of medical and integrated care at Dasa.

When it comes to gender, 32% of women say they are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their willingness and energy to perform daily tasks, compared to 15% of men. In addition, about 26% of the interviewees are also not happy with their “ability to stay focused on tasks” and “on the quality of food”, compared to 17% of men.

Women are more careful about health care: 50% said they do preventive exams at least once a year, while 44% of men say they do this regularly. On the other hand, only 38% of them take their health history and previous exams when they go to the doctor, compared to 48% of them.

One data pointed out by the survey is the use of health applications in all social strata — with a predominance of class A respondents with 75% frequency of use. Online consultations, or telemedicine, are also more present in the economically higher classes (56% in class A and 40% in class B), but even among respondents who said they had never had telemedicine consultations, the majority (60 %) says he intends to carry out this format in the future. Satisfaction with use is high, with scores between 4 and 5, where 5 represents the highest scale.

Among those who have health insurance, 66% of people who receive the full benefit say they are satisfied or very satisfied, while only 50% of co-participants show the same levels of satisfaction. In both cases, the main reasons for dissatisfaction with the plans are coverage, lengthy service, comprehensiveness of exams and specialties. Regarding the performance of routine exams, 55% of those benefited have this practice, compared to only 29% of those who do not enjoy the benefit.

Of those who do not have health insurance, 24% say they are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the balance between their professional and personal lives, compared to 18% of those who do. Another interesting fact is that beneficiaries take more history or previous exams to medical appointments: a total of 45%, compared to 30% among those who do not have plans.

When evaluating the performance of companies in terms of offering benefits, a difference in expectations regarding “concern for the emotional health of employees” and the guarantee of “a healthy balance between professional and personal life” is evident. When asked what the top two things a company should offer, 39% of employees said companies should offer quality health insurance, 22% a safe work environment and 19% should be concerned about employees’ emotional health.

Among the worst ratings is the ability of companies to listen to employee demands and criticisms on health issues, with ratings such as “very bad” (8%), “poor” (15%) and “neither good nor bad” ( 28%).

As differentials, the factors that weigh the most in the choice of respondents (“extremely important”) in choosing laboratories and hospitals are service (66%), cleaning (70% in laboratories and 69% in hospitals), and plan coverage (68 % in laboratories and 66% in hospitals). Attributes that weigh more than the doctor’s indication and the amount paid.

“The survey results guide companies to make strategic decisions offering or expanding benefits and, depending on, rethinking the work model, whether to reinforce employee engagement, or to attract new talent”, concludes Motta.

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