Deliberative dialogue as a political decision-making tool: primary health care workers’ health

This study addresses policies to improve the health of primary health care workers. Grounded in workers’ health, we investigate the potential for job strain inherent in the organization of work in production processes. We present the results of a deliberative dialogue held to decide on guidelines for public policy to improve primary health care workers’ health. The results show that criticisms levelled at current policies focus on the predominance of biomedical explanations for job stress, the focal nature of care actions addressing job strain and the limited participation of workers in decision-making in the world of work imprinted by neoliberal logic. Policies that are critical of the productivist model of work organization were proposed to improve workers’ health.

Worker health; Implementation science; Primary health care; Health policy