Reliability of information on people with disabilities gathered by community health workers in highly consanguineous communities of Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

BackgroundIn Brazil, community health workers have gathered monthly information on people with disabilities to maintain the Primary Care Information System since 1998; however, few studies have used this database for scientific or public health policy purposes.ObjectivesThis study aimed to evaluate the reliability of information on people with disabilities gathered by community health workers in primary care services.MethodThis was a cross-sectional population-based study conducted in two highly consanguineous communities, involving a population of 18,458 inhabitants in Northeastern Brazil. To study the prevalence of people with disabilities, estimations performed by health workers were compared with those obtained by researchers who interviewed 15.6% of the total population. To study the agreement of the information, data on 106 people with disabilities completed independently by researchers and health workers were compared to evaluate the degree of agreement for 28 variables analysed. Kappa statistics (κ) were used to calculate the inter-rater agreement.ResultsThe prevalence of disability estimated by community health workers was 3.01 and 2.00% for city A and B, respectively, while the percentages obtained by researchers were 6.72 and 5.65%, respectively, showing an underestimation of prevalence according to community health workers. The Kappa index value obtained for all data analysed (2,589 items excluding losses) was 0.808 (p < 0.01), indicating an almost perfect consistency of information collected by health workers compared to by researchers.ConclusionCommunity health workers collected information with a high degree of reliability, although the identification of the prevalence of disabled individuals was potentially impaired due to the work process.

A population-based study of inter-generational attitudes towards consanguineous marriages in north-eastern Brazil

“…In a study conducted in five municipalities of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, the highest ratio of consanguineous to non-consanguineous couples was observed in the 20-49 age group, revealing a significant appreciation of the tradition of consanguineous marriages among young adults (Santos et al, 2013b;Lopes et al, 2017). The tendency to maintain consanguineous practices observed in this region of Brazil contrasts with a worldwide phenomenon of significant decrease in this tradition (Bittles, 2012;Small et al, 2016).…”

“…The Human Development Index (HDI) is 0.619 and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita is 7,223.37 reais (about US$1800). The municipality was selected for convenience reasons, since previous studies on consanguinity and the reliability of information collected by community health workers had already been conducted in Brejo dos Santos (Weller et al, 2012;Lopes et al, 2017).…”

“…Q10 asked the participants whether they thought the risk of having children with disabilities was the same for consanguineous and nonconsanguineous couples. In Brazil, the Portuguese expression pessoa com deficiência (people with deficiency) is used to describe indiscriminate impairment and disability (Lopes et al, 2017).…”

Pessoas com deficiência no cenário rural: concepção dos Agentes Comunitários de Saúde

“…Isso porque os dados de prevalência de pessoas com deficiência registrados por estes profissionais revelaram uma subnotificação de aproximadamente 50%, em comparação aos dados coletados pelos pesquisadores. 30 Reitera-se que, sem a compreensão adequada do que é a deficiência e quais seus tipos, dificilmente os ACS conseguirão identificar as demandas das pessoas com deficiência e desenvolver ações para atendê-las. No cenário rural, isto se torna ainda mais grave, visto que estes profissionais são a base da comunicação entre as pessoas com deficiência e o serviço de saúde, especificamente da APS.…”

Happiness, Subjective Well-Being, and Life Satisfaction: A Compared Study between Long-Lived Elderly People in Northeast and Southeast Brazil

“…The SABE questionnaire has been used for many years, having been validated previously; and a few adaptations was performed for its application in Brejo dos Santos. This population was selected by convenience, because the health workers had already participated in a previous research (Lopes et al, 2017).…”