Avaliação da estratégia Saúde da Família na perspectiva dos idosos em Campina Grande, Paraíba

Abstract

Objective. To evaluate the Family Health Strategy from the elderly perspective in Campina Grande, Paraíba. Methodology. Cross-sectional study, home-based, conducted with elderly people. It was evaluated the following variables: sex, age group, socio-economic level, number of residents at home, evaluation of the Family Health Strategy (related to the provision, accessibility and use), as well as the elderly satisfaction about the services offered. The evaluation of the Family Health Strategy was carried out through a validated questionnaire, adapted to the elderly population and subjected to factor analysis to maximize the power of explanation. The data were submitted to bivariate analysis in order to calculate the gross oddsratios, with 95% of confidence interval, to identify the socio-economic and demographic variables associations with the evaluation of the elderly on the Family Health Strategy. The chisquare

test was used to assess the association between demographic characteristics (sex, age group), and socioeconomic status of the elderly and their satisfaction (satisfied, not satisfied) with the services offered, taking 5% as the level of statistical significance. Results. 420 elderly participated in the study. It was noticed a high proportion of negative reviews to medicines supply, to the organizational accessibility related to the time waiting for the results, the number of calls per day and the opening hours. Most of the elderly did not know the operation and focus of the Family Health Strategy. Positive assessments of economic accessibility and use predominated. Between socioeconomic and demographic variables, greater association was found between the Family Health Strategy and the socio-economic level. Women had higher chance to assess positively the waiting time for results and not to present economic difficulty to carry out consultation with a specialist. Elderly age group of 70 to 79 years showed reduced chance to assess positively the domiciliary visit by a Community Health Agent. The number of residents per household equal to or greater than six reduced the chance to rely on medical information. Higher proportions of elderly satisfied were observed among women (77.1%), between those with 70-79 years (77.3%) and among those of socioeconomic class C (81.1%). There was no statistically significant association between satisfaction of the elderly and the demographic and socioeconomic level. Conclusion. The evaluation of the elderly shows major problems related to ignorance about the operation and focus of the Family Health Strategy, as well as limitations on the organizational accessibility, which still persist to the demand and use of the services.