Teachers' voice: analyses of brazilian laws in the perspective of health promotion

PURPOSE:

to analyze the Brazilian policies about teacher's vocal health, from the perspective of health promotion.

METHODS:

61 documents published between 1998 and 2010 were collected and organized according to the categories: terminology, aim, predicted strategies and support to the teacher. The data received a qualitative and quantitative treatment.

RESULTS

: the terminology used in the documents was program (88.52%), campaign (6.55%) and vocal health policies (4.91%); as for the aims, the most mentioned was prevention of dysphonia in teachers (83.60%); the privileged strategy to approach the teacher's voice consisted of an annual theoretical-practical course (80.32%) and the teacher's predicted support was the access to speech-pathology therapy and to a physician in case of dysphonia (65.57%). The majority of the documents did not indicate any support available to the teachers' vocal health and were limited to the treatment of dysphonia, revealing that the teachers' vocal health is not taken as an object of concern by the State.

CONCLUSION

: despite their relevance, the analyzed documents present a very incipient and superficial content, especially in terms of promoting teachers' vocal care and health. Mostly, except for the occasional vocal health recommendation concerning the rehabilitation of voice disorders, there is no foundation on a comprehensive teachers' vocal health policy. Speech therapists

and related professional entities should play an effective role in the elaboration of documents to assist policy makers in the promotion of teachers' health in an objective and extensive way.

Voice; Faculty; Laws; Health Promotion; Teaching