Socio-environmental approach in nursing: focusing on rural labor and the use of pesticides.

Objective: to apply a socio-environmental approach to the relationship between human health and rural labor through a link verification/association between health disorders and the use of pesticides. Method: this is a quantitative, cross-sectional, observational and exploratory study with 331 inhabitants of two cities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Data analysis was conducted by Poisson regression. Results: reported health disorders included: mental (62.2%); circulatory (49.8%); dermatologic (45%); respiratory (41%); and gastric (36.2%). Workers who apply pesticides showed a 90% higher prevalence of dermatological alterations when compared to those who did not. Conclusion: the socio-environmental approach, comprising elements of the rural environment, of workers, and of the use of pesticides in the work process in connection/association with potential health disorders has shown that rural workers who apply pesticides present a higher prevalence of dermatological alterations.