[Elementary school teachers and their quality of life].

OBJECTIVES Investigating some pertinent factors associated with elementary education teachers' quality of life working in the Brazilian city of Florianopolis and surrounding district. METHODS 349 state and municipal school system elementary school teachers working in the city and its surrounding areas answered a questionnaire containing work-related questions and the WHO Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used and the differences between means were analyzed, considering physical, psychological, social relationships and environmental domains. RESULTS Teachers working more hours per week and in the state school system had lower quality of life indices in all domains investigated. Those having more years of service in the teaching profession had lower quality of life indexes regarding the physical (p=0.007) and social relationships (p<0.001) domains. Teachers occupying management/supervisory posts had higher quality of life scores in the environmental domain compared to classroom teachers. CONCLUSIONS The hours worked seemed to be the main factor associated with lower quality of life scores in this sample of elementary school teachers.