Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: VICTOR MARCEL GONCALVES OLIVEIRA

Underreporting of Work Accident Reports - CAT and social protection of workers: 

a proposal to enhance Primary Health Care as a space for defending rights

Health Care; Occupational Health; Accidents, Occupational; Underreporting; Work Accident Report.

Underreporting of the Work Accident Report (CAT) is a significant barrier to the effective implementation of public policies for workers’ health protection and to guaranteeing access to social security and labor rights. In Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará, this phenomenon persists even with the existence of a structured Primary Health Care (PHC) network, in which Family Health Strategy (FHS) teams are legally authorized to issue the CAT. This situation reveals not only technical and institutional gaps but also an untapped potential of PHC as a strategic setting for workers’ health surveillance. This research project, to be submitted for the qualification stage of the Professional Master’s Degree in Family Health, aims to investigate the factors contributing to CAT underreporting in the FHS and to develop a technical guideline manual to support physicians and nurses in PHC in identifying, characterizing, and issuing this document. A qualitative, applied approach with participatory methodological design will be adopted, grounded in the Praxeological Model for Technology Development (MPDT), which integrates pragmatic, productive-artistic, experimental, and revolutionary dimensions. Data collection will involve physicians and nurses from the municipality’s 85 FHS teams, using a semi-structured questionnaire and thematic content analysis (Bardin), supported by the IRaMuTeQ software. The technical product will be validated by specialists and end-users according to criteria of utility, clarity, relevance, and applicability. It is expected that the developed technology will qualify workers’ health practices in PHC, reduce the statistical invisibility of occupational injuries, and strengthen the defense of workers’ social rights. By embedding workers’ health into the routine of PHC teams, the project aligns with the constitutional principles of comprehensiveness, equity, and social participation of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS), fostering more resolute action committed to social protection.