Community health workers’ knowledge about crack and other drugs

• Autor(a) principal: Fernandes, Analine
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Outros Autores: Stein, Airton Tetelbom, Giugliani, Camila
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Medicina de Família e Comunidade (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://www.rbmfc.org.br/rbmfc/article/view/924
• topic: Mental Health; Crack Cocaine; Family Health; Community Health Workers; Knowledge; Salud Mental; Cocaína Crack; Salud de la Familia; Agentes Comunitarios de Salud; Conocimiento; Saúde Mental; Atenção Primária à Saúde; Saúde da Família; Agentes Comunitários de Saúde; Conhecimento; Saúde Mental; Cocaína Crack; Saúde da Família; Agentes Comunitários de Saúde; Conhecimento

Objective: to identify the knowledge of community health agents (CHA) of the city of Passo Fundo on crack and other drugs and to describe their sociodemographic and health profiles. Methods: descriptive study with 78 CHA from Passo Fundo. Data collection occurred through the application of a structured and self-administered questionnaire on demographics and health of CHA, and another on knowledge about crack and other drugs. Descriptive analysis and Tukey´s test, as well as Pearson´s product moment correlation and Spearman´s correlation were performed. Results: all CHA were female, mean age 41.1±9.6 years, with 57.7% of them having completed high school and 69.2% being married. Also, 11.5% were smokers, 93.6% denied alcohol dependence and most had drug addicts in their coverage area. Half of them presented family problems. In relation to health, 29.5% obtained an SRQ score suggesting the possibility of Common Mental Disorders, and 51.3% said that they had chronic diseases. In the knowledge test the average of correct answers was 34.5%, with the highest number of correct answers being among the CHA with more schooling (p = 0.006). Conclusion: the low number of correct answers on the knowledge test shows an urgent need to strengthen the training of CHA. The specific profile of these professionals raises the need for more attention to their health, as well as new research in the area.