Social determinants of health and community health agent work

• Autor(a) principal: Broch,Daiane
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Riquinho,Deise Lisboa, Vieira,Letícia Becker, Ramos,Adriana Roese, Gasparin,Vanessa Aparecida
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da USP (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0080-62342020000100417
• topic: Community Health Workers; Primary Health Care; Health Status Disparities; Working Conditions; Social Determinants of Health

Abstract Objective: To understand the social determinants of health from the perspective of the work of community health agents. Method: A qualitative study conducted in a Health District Management in the city of Porto Alegre/Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, through focus groups and semi-structured interviews with community health agents. The analysis took place through thematic categorization, and the social determinants of health were adopted as the analytical category. Results: Twenty-five (25) community health agent workers participated. Overlapping individual and collective themes emerged, from violence and drug trafficking to lack of sanitation, improperly disposed garbage, illiteracy and the health problems themselves. Conclusion: The study revealed a complex relationship between the work of community health agents and the social determinants of health, reinforcing the need for a cohesive health team with intersectoral initiatives to address the different demands of the territories which are worked and lived in.