Promoção da saúde ao portador de diabetes mellitus na atenção primária à saúde no município de Nova Friburgo

Abstract

Health promotion is a set of actions that provides visibility to factors related to the healthdisease processes and population awareness. Health education is one among the health promotion strategies that seek to build and transmit knowledge to the population. Thus, the present study aimed to characterize whether Primary Care Units approach health education as a form of health promotion for people with diabetes mellitus in the city of Nova Friburgo/RJ. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee (CAAE: 09372619.8.0000.5626), and all participants provided their informed consent. The managers of 19 Primary Care Units were interviewed and asked to answer questions about their professional education and function in the unit, general information about unit operation, and aspects related to health promotion and education, and health education focused on diabetics. As a result, all units reported health promotion actions, and most managers mentioned actions of health education for the general population and focused on diabetes as well as a strategy. For diabetic patients, the individual approach is the main educational strategy. Specific groups for diabetic patients are not often. The failure in performing these actions is related to the limitations of each unit, such as the lack of appropriate physical space, a geographical location that impairs population access, lack of material to perform activities, and lack of enough staff. In conclusion, all units carry out health promotion and education activities for the general population, but education focused on diabetes is less often in Primary Care. On the other hand, when presented, educational actions have low adherence by the population, demonstrating their persistence in replacing the curative model with a preventive model of diseases