Introduction/background/objectives:

The concept of Illegitimate Tasks is relatively recent and there are not many published articles. This review is intended to summarize the main data included in the literature.

Methodology:

This is a Bibliographic Review, initiated through a research carried out in January 2021, in the databases “CINALH plus with full text, Medline with full text, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Methodology Register, Nursing and Allied Health Collection: comprehensive, MedicLatina and RCAAP”.

Content:

The concept of Illegitimate Tasks is constructed; that is, such qualification depends on whether the worker sees the objective as inserted or not in his functions, which is influenced by the definition of the central and peripheral tasks of that professional sector. Tasks can be considered illegitimate (when they are considered unnecessary, that is, they are not accurate and, therefore, should not be assigned to anyone, constituting a waste of time) and unreasonable ones (meaning that they are not included in the scope of that job); this last subtype is believed to be more frequent.

In this situation are prevalent higher levels of cortisol, anxiety, depression, psychosomatic symptoms, emotional exhaustion/burnout, irritability, lower sleep quality, lower self-esteem, more resentment towards the institution, more irritability, lower mental health in general and global health; as well as presenteeism, job dissatisfaction, more willingness to change jobs, less motivation, more counterproductive attitudes, more conflict of roles, worse working environment, feeling of injustice or/and indignation.

If these tasks are justified by the illness of other workers, their acceptance will be enhanced, since the feeling of injustice will be reduced; the fact that the leadership takes on some of these activities will also help.

It will be desirable to understand what tasks professionals consider illegitimate and why, as well as how they could become more attractive. They could also be mitigated by making an official list of the main tasks of each post, obtained by consensus, by a diverse and appropriate team, thus reducing ambiguity in terms of role conflicts.

Discussion and Conclusions:

The concept itself is recent and the few articles found are generically by authors/magazines from northern Europe. However, when observing the simple definitions given to the general concept and its main subdivisions, we easily identify concrete situations (passed directly with us, with co-workers or with employees of companies where we exercise Occupational Health) that may be inserted here. However, even so, the concept is reasonably subjective, since at the base is the fact that the employee considers that the task is illegitimate and/or the boss eventually disagrees. The consequences pointed out in the literature make sense. It would be relevant to understand why some consider the tasks illegitimate and others not and what practical measures could be taken to mitigate the issue.

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