Sleep patterns and sleepiness of working college students.

The double journey (work and study) may result or aggravate health problems, including sleep disturbances, as observed in previous studies with high school students. The aim of this study is to analyze the sleep-wake cycle and perceived sleepiness of working college students during weekdays. Twenty-three healthy college male students, 21-24 years old, working during the day and attending classes in the evening, participated in this study. During five consecutive days, the students filled out daily activities logs and wore actigraphs. Mean sleeping time was lower than 6 hours per night. No significant differences were observed in the sleep-wake cycle during the weekdays. The observed lack of changes in the sleepwake cycle of these college students might occur as participants were not on a free schedule, but exposed to social constraints, as was the regular attendance to evening college and day work activities. Sleepiness worsened over the evening school hours. Those results show the burden carried by College students who perform double activities - work and study.

Harassment at work? Empowerment and autonomy as coping strategies of young workers.

There is a considerable number of researches about workplace violence, but few relate young workers and work harassment. This study aimed to investigate the reported perceptions of young apprentices and trainees about moral harassment at work and related coping strategies. Forty adolescent workers (22 men and 18 women) between 15 and 20 years old who received training by a non-governmental organization in São Paulo, Brazil, participated in the study. Data collection included individual and collective interviews. It was used an in-depth semi structured interview protocol. The discourses were analyzed using the hermeneutic-dialectic frame. Results showed that young workers reported little or no knowledge of strategies to cope with moral harassment at work, showing vulnerability to the effects of aggression. Effective coping strategies at work should embrace two important concepts of health promotion: empowerment and autonomy.

Effects of working full-time and studying in the evening hours among young apprentices and trainees.

OBJECTIVE: This research aims to assess apprentices' and trainees' work conditions, psychosocial factors at work, as well as health symptoms after joining the labor force. BACKGROUND: Despite the fact that there are over 3.5 million young working students in Brazil,this increasing rate brings with it difficult working conditions such as work pressure, heavy workloads,and lack of safety training. METHOD: This study was carried out in a nongovernmental organization (NGO) with 40 young members of a first job program in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. They filled out a comprehensive questionnaire focused on sociodemographic variables, working conditions,and health symptoms. Individual and collective semi-structured interviews were conducted. Empirical data analysis was performed using analysis of content. RESULTS: The majority of participants mentioned difficulties in dealing with the pressure and their share of responsibilities at work. Body pains, headaches, sleep deprivation during the workweek, and frequent colds were mentioned. Lack of appropriate task and safety training contributed to the occurrence of work injuries. CONCLUSION: Having a full-time job during the day coupled with evening high school attendance may jeopardize these people's health and future. APPLICATION: This study can make a contribution to the revision and implementation of work training programs for adolescents. It can also help in the creation of more sensible policies regarding youth employment.