Evaluation of the principles of family counseling and community primary care child health

Abstract

The primary attention is considered the first contact of individuals, their families and the population with the health system. As you approach the individuals and the community, your power to interact with the population can increase. It features four key attributes: first contact access, longitudinality, comprehensiveness and coordination, and three derivatives: family counseling, community orientation, and cultural competence. The family orientation consists in the knowledge of family factors related to the origin and care of diseases and community orientation on recognizing the needs in the community through epidemiological data and direct contact. The aim of the study was to evaluate the principles of family and community orientation of primary child health in primary health care units in Londrina, Paraná. A descriptive, quantitative, held on 39 basic units of the urban area, between August 2012 and January 2013 through an evaluation tool called PCATool Brazil-child version. A total of 609 interviews were answered by parents or primary caregivers of children under twelve, who used the service at least three times for consultation with a pediatrician or nurse. The score value for family counseling was 5.082 and community orientation 5.462, not reaching the ideal score (6.6). It was concluded that both attributes need to be developed, with improvement or installation of new measures, which may assist in improving the quality of primary care of the child.