Setting health priorities in a community: a case example

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To describe the methodology used in the process of setting health priorities for community intervention in a community of older adults.METHODS Based on the results of a health diagnosis related to active aging, a prioritization process was conceived to select the priority intervention problem. The process comprised four successive phases of problem analysis and classification: (1) grouping by level of similarity, (2) classification according to epidemiological criteria, (3) ordering by experts, and (4) application of the Hanlon method. These stages combined, in an integrated manner, the views of health team professionals, community nursing and gerontology experts, and the actual community.RESULTS The first stage grouped the identified problems by level of similarity, comprising a body of 19 issues for analysis. In the second stage these problems were classified by the health team members by epidemiological criteria (size, vulnerability, and transcendence). The nine most relevant problems resulting from the second stage of the process were submitted to expert analysis and the five most pertinent problems were selected. The last step identified the priority issue for intervention in this specific community with the participation of formal and informal community leaders: Low Social Interaction in Community Participation.CONCLUSIONS The prioritization process is a key step in health planning, enabling the identification of priority problems to intervene in a given community at a given time. There are no default formulas for selecting priority issues. It is up to each community intervention team to define its own process with different methods/techniques that allow the identification of and intervention in needs classified as priority by the community.

Conselho local de saúde: implantação e dificuldades da formação na Estratégia Saúde da Família

“…A integração entre profissionais e usuários tão potente em nível local pode ser exemplo para as conferências municipais de saúde. Contudo os formatos das conferências podem ser repensados, uma vez que podem distanciar a população, pois esta apresenta dificuldade para compreender linguagens complexas e deliberações que fogem do seu cotidiano (22,23) .…”

“…A população precisava se envolver, tornar-se parte do processo, buscar e sentir seu pertencimento na gestão do SUS. A participação integrada entre comunidade e profissionais da saúde possibilita o sucesso de intervenções comunitárias, uma vez que garante que os problemas detectados sejam efetivamente valorizados pelas comunidades (23) .…”

Diagnóstico comunitário na estratégia saúde da família: potencialidades e desafios

“…2 In this sense, the community diagnosis (CD) is considered a "key" element of reflection on the daily life of the health services, being an indispensable technology for the organization of the work processes of the ESF teams, assuring the basic care principles, such as the definition of the territory and the population ascribed. 3 To know the field of action, the ESF teams must discover the important path of CD in health and the diverse possibilities of action that it provides, in an interdisciplinary perspective in the analysis of the problems, opening possibilities for the dialogue between the actors involved and the identification of what each sector can do to intervene on the determinants, constraints or facts that express the problems in the community. 4 • To know the potentialities and the challenges of the CDD in the perception of the professionals who work in the FHT.…”

“…Master´s degree student in Public Health, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis (SC), Brazil, E-mail: yanaa192@hotmail.com ORCID iD: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6034-1497; 2 Ph.D. in Science, Federal University of Fronteira Sul, Chapecó (SC), Brazil, E-mail: jeanebarros18@gmail.com ORCID iD: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0512-9765; 3 Ph.D. in Nursing, Federal University of Fronteira Sul, Chapecó (SC), Brazil, E-mail: valeria.madureira@uffs.edu.br ORCID iD: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7990-3613…”

Effect of a new health education model on continuous nursing in elderly patients with diabetes mellitus

“…The menu-style volunteer service refers to having certain professional volunteers collect information and present it in a volume, which is distributed to communities, villages, and towns, to allow residents to provide services such as volunteers to hotels/institutions that order these services. 6,7 Through four steps, namely, preparing dishes, ordering, sending food, and tasting, as well as assessment of the condition of the object of study, the model aims to manage, evaluate, and improve the health education system; finally, a standardized voluntary service system is formed. 8,9 This study, carried out from September 2016 to February 2017, assessed the effects of the implementation of a voluntary health education system in community elderly diabetes patients with fracture and provides an ethical review.…”