ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To analyse the sociocultural and organizational factors of the health services related to the unplanned absenteeism. MATERIAL AND METHODS: By means of a cross and descriptive analysis, a group of workers from a Social Security Institution was studied. The previous year, this group presented a significant absenteeism, which means that the worker had stayed away from his work-place more than 12 working days in the year of 2003. After having the consent of the worker, a medical-social study took place at the worker's home. Descriptive statistics and correlation of Pearson were used. RESULTS: The average age was of 40.6 +/- 7.7 years old; 68.8 % of them were married, and the integrated family represented the 74 %. The group of age which had the greatest percentage of absenteeism was the one of 41 to 50 years old, with 49.2 %. The correlation between years of seniority and absenteeism was 0.027 (p = ns). The activity performed by 87 % of the workers was related to their profession or labor profile. CONCLUSIONS: The greatest absenteeism percentage corresponds to the group of age between 41 and 50 years old, and there was no correlation found between seniority and absenteeism; however, there is an adequate satisfaction with the activities that they carry out in their work-place.
