O Agente comunitário de saúde como ator na promoção de saúde bucal no programa saúde da família de Rio Branco, Acre, 2009

Abstract

Introduction: Community health officers (CHO) are strategic actors in the promotion of health. The officers´ activities within the Family Health Program (FHP), has become considerately decisive in several ways, and covers oral health. Objective: To analyze the community health officers´ performance of the family health program in the municipality of Rio Branco, Acre, in 2009, in the perspective of oral health promotion, reporting their practices, independent of the presence of oral health professionals at the family health units. Method: Descriptive research and interpretative, composing a study of qualitative methodology in Public Health Services, done thru empiric data gathering. The study subjects were made up of 20 community health officers that worked in family health units of the municipal health bureau in Rio Branco city, capital of Acre state, in 2009. Data were obtained by mean of open interviews. The Collective Subject Discourse was used to condense and express subjects' talks, analised according to definite Central Ideas. Results: The collective subject discourses were analyzed and presented from the following central ideas: The connection of the community health officer with the community; the perception of oral health; how they acquired knowledge on oral health; Oral health counseling at homes and work relationship of the community health officer. Conclusion: in spite of limited autonomy on the job, relation to municipal health bureau kept at a distance and the lacking of a permanent education program that may allow for obtaining and renewing knowledge on oral health, the community health officers are able to perform as actors in the promotion of oral health at homes, independent of dentistry professionals' presence in theiir health units, thus, contributing to disentail oral health of traditional dentistry know how.

Promoção da saude

“…A citada estratégia baseou-se na promoção da saúde e o objetivo principal foi a incorporação de hábitos saudáveis que minimizassem a ocorrência das doenças da boca. Conclui-se que esta estratégia viabiliza o desenvolvimento de uma odontologia mais resolutiva e integral (Brant, 1995).…”