Atitudes e conhecimentos de agentes comunitários de saúde e suas relações com idosos

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:To describe community health workers' attitudes and beliefs toward the elderly. METHODS:Cross-sectional descriptive study conducted with 213 community health workers (CHWs) at 12 primary care units and 29 family health centers in the city of Marília, State of São Paulo, Southeastern Brazil, in 2010. Data were collected by means of a sociodemographic questionnaire, a scale of attitudes toward aging (Neri Scale), and a questionnaire to assess gerontological knowledge (the Palmore-Neri-Cachioni Aging Quiz). The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences v. 16.0 was used for data analysis. RESULTS:CHWs predominantly consisted of young female adults, married, with more than 12 years of schooling and who worked in this activity for over 6 years. Most CHWs reported having experience with elderly people and having elderly people in the family. However, less than half of them received training on the topic of aging. As for attitudes towards the elderly, CHWs stressed both positive aspects such as their wisdom and generosity and negative aspects such as slowness and strictness. They showed low gerontological knowledge, which was directly associated with the training received. Many CHWs stereotyped the elderly as dissatisfi ed and dependent. CONCLUSIONS:Changing attitudes and improving knowledge on aging are critical for meeting health care demands of elderly people. More appropriate training of CHWs is key for providing adequate primary care to elderly population.

Professional competencies in primary health care for attending to older adults

“…Indeed, they combine critical thinking and creative problem solving with assessment, planning, intervention, and evaluation processes to achieve health results/outcomes (14) . When caring for older adults, they should consider societal attitudes toward the aging and how myths/prejudice held toward them influence the health care that older adults receive (14,15) .…”

Conhecimentos dos agentes comunitários de saúde sobre crack e outras drogas

“…Tal percepção foi confirmada com o teste de análise de conhecimentos específicos, com resposta correta em apenas um terço das questões. O estudo sobre conhecimento dos ACS moradores de Marília (São Paulo) sobre o envelhecimento relatou um baixo índice de capacitação no assunto e, no teste de conhecimentos, a média de acertos foi de 40%, 24 porcentagem semelhante de acertos na investigação de conhecimentos em drogadição apresentada neste estudo. O bom resultado em capacitação para ACS também foi relatado em estudo sobre intervenção educativa em aleitamento materno, em que houve um aumento do escore médio de conhecimentos classificados como bons após a formação específica no assunto.…”

Agentes comunitários de saúde: mapeamento de conhecimento antes e após oficinas de instrumentalização

“…to change it 4 . It also searches to conduct health surveillance and to create a connection between the team and the population, fostering an organization of Primary Health Care 3 more suitable to the problems and health needs of the population and to the principles of the Single Health System.…”