Consequences of work that cross cultures: health and suffering of university workers

Abstract

We seek to identify international studies that describe the causes of mental illness in university workers, focusing on work characteristics that, regardless of culture, can affect workers' mental health. To achieve the proposed objectives, we carried out a literature review. Searches were carried out in two main databases: Scopus and Web of Science. The search aimed to compose a heterogeneous sample with studies from several countries and continents. We identified some characteristics that tend to influence the suffering and mental illness of workers in different parts of the world. Lack of control and intensification of work, as well as affectivity and participation in management seem to have this property. It is concluded that, considering that some characteristics of work affect workers regardless of the culture in which they are inserted, material development by itself cannot resolve this issue, otherwise economically more advanced countries would no longer suffer from diseases work-related mental health problems. Material development can improve working conditions only when it is mediated by ethics, aiming at social well-being, since economic development does not mean immediate positive repercussions in terms of mental health for workers.