Risk Behaviours and Self-medication in Active Workers: Comportamientos de riesgo y automedicación en trabajadores activos

The problem of self-medication at work has different nuances and raises serious questions about work practices. Self-medication behaviours are linked to cultural and social practices, however in workers it was related to pain management and to face the demands of their activity, self-medication can be seen as a resource in itself to maintain productivity at work. This study addressed self-medication behaviours and risk behaviours in three consecutive moments and in complementary perspectives, this in order to understand how they can be related. Specifically, when workers must place work at the center of their interests, leaving apart matters related to health, self-medication is also identified as a practice related to showing efficiency and productivity, especially in work environments where uncertainty about accessibility to work is critical. The study of self-medication in workers also highlights the problem of high consumption of pain medications, institutional data are just the tip of the iceberg, the high consumption of this type of medication indicates a problem that deserves to be studied in depth due to the profound implications for workers and their health, but also for security problems in organisations.