Objective To analyze the strengths and limitations of the Family Health Strategy (ESF) from the perceptions of healthcare professionals and community. Methods Between June-August 2009, in the city of Vespasiano, Minas Gerais State, Southeastern Brazil, a questionnaire was applied to evaluate the ESF with 77 healthcare professionals and 293 caretakers of children under five. Health professional ESF training, community access to care, patient communication, and delivery of health education and pediatric care were of main interest in the evaluation. Logistic regression analysis was used to obtain odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results The majority of health care professionals reported their program training was insufficient in quantity, content and method of delivery. Caretakers and professionals identified similar weaknesses (services not accessible to the caretakers, lack of healthcare professionals, poor training for professionals) and strengths (community health worker-patient communications, provision of educational information, and pediatric care). Recommendations for improvement included: more doctors and specialists, more and better training, and scheduling improvements. Caretaker satisfaction with the ESF was found to be related to perceived benefits such as community health agent household visits (OR 5.8, 95%CI 2.8;12.1), good professional-patient relationships (OR 4.8, 95%CI 2.5;9.3), and family-focused health (OR 4.1, 95%CI 1.6;10.2); and perceived problems such as lack of personnel (OR 0.3, 95%CI 0.2;0.6), difficulty with access (OR 0.2, 95%CI 0.1;0.4), and poor quality of care (OR 0.3, 95%CI 0.1;0.6). Overall, 62% of caretakers reported being generally satisfied with the ESF services. Conclusions Identifying the limitations and strengths of the ESF from the healthcare professional and caretaker perspective may serve to advance primary community healthcare in Brazil.
Objective To assess factors influencing perspectives on Brazil’s national Family Health Program (PSF) by exploring satisfaction with PSF units and home-visit community health agents and perceptions about PSF unit accessibility among frequent users (primary caretakers of children under age 5) in Vespasiano, Minas Gerais. Methods Data were collected though cross-sectional household surveys to determine programmatic and demographic factors affecting user satisfaction with the PSF. Multivariate logistic modeling was used to estimate users’ satisfaction with PSF units and agents and perceived access to PSF unit services. Chi-square and analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were used to estimate statistical differences. Results The majority of caretakers were satisfied with both their PSF unit and their PSF community health agent and had received at least one monthly home visit from the health agent. Satisfaction with both the health agent and the unit was positively associated with perceived access to the unit and frequency of agent home visits. Caretakers who reported that their PSF agent made one or more home visits per month were more likely to perceive the PSF unit as being “accessible” (or “sometimes accessible”). Conclusions The current data are important indicators of population health in Minas Gerais, Brazil, and suggest that users’ satisfaction with the PSF and perceptions about its accessibility can be improved by ensuring that all households receive at least one health agent home visit per month. These results could be applied to other parts of Brazil or Latin America to improve understanding of user perceptions of health systems.
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