Abstract
BackgroundTo describe some sociodemographic and educational characteristics of oral health technicians (OHTs) in public primary health care teams in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.MethodsA cross-sectional descriptive study was performed based on the telephone survey of a representative sample comprising 231 individuals. A pre-tested instrument was used for the data collection, including questions on gender, age in years, years of work as an OHT, years since graduation as an OHT, formal schooling, individual income in a month, and participation in continuing educational programmes. The descriptive statistic was developed and the formation of clusters, by the agglomerative hierarchy technique based on the furthest neighbour, was based on the age, years of work as an OHT, time since graduation as an OHT, formal schooling, individual income in a month, and participation in continuing educational programmes.ResultsMost interviewees (97.1%) were female. A monthly income of USD 300.00 to 600.00 was reported by 77.5% of the sample. Having educational qualifications in excess of their role was reported by approximately 20% of the participants. The median time since graduation was six years, and half of the sample had worked for four years as an OHT. Most interviewees (67.6%) reported having participated in professional continuing educational programmes. Two different clusters were identified based on the sociodemographic and educational characteristics of the sample.ConclusionsThe Brazilian OHTs in public primary health care teams in the state of Minas Gerais are mostly female who have had little time since graduation, working experience, and formal schooling sufficient for professional practice.
Highlights
To describe some sociodemographic and educational characteristics of oral health technicians (OHTs) in public primary health care teams in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil
The overall description for each variable showed that regarding the sociodemographic variables, 97.1% of the OHTs were female and the same proportion graduated in OHT
The monthly income of most OHTs (77.5%; 95% Confidence interval (CI): 70.9 to 82.8%) varied from BRL 510.00 (USD 300.00) to BRL 1,020.00 (USD 600.00), whereas it was less than BRL 510.00 (USD 300.00) in less than 5% of the sample and higher than BRL 1,020.00 (USD 600.00) in 17.6%
Summary
To describe some sociodemographic and educational characteristics of oral health technicians (OHTs) in public primary health care teams in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. There are two kinds of auxiliary dental personnel in Brazil, oral health technicians (OHTs) and dental assistants. Within the context of health care work, the OHT contributes to integral patient care in both the private and public settings of the health care system by acting to support diagnosis, education on health, protection, prevention, recovery, rehabilitation, and health management. Brazilian OHTs from Minas Gerais have worked more with preventive/collective activities than in individual clinical care [3]. In other countries [4,5], professions with job descriptions similar to that of the OHT have been assessed as to their sociodemographic and educational characteristics. Given the importance of human resources in the national health care system [6], such information is relevant for the planning of policies for health care human resources
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