Avaliação dos estilos de vida dos agentes comunitários de saúde no município de Montes Claros MG

Abstract

This dissertation aimed to analyze the factors associated with lifestyle in Community Health Agents (CHA) in the Municipality of Montes Claros-MG, Brazil. This is a cross-sectional, census, quantitative and analytical study, derived from an excerpt from the research entitled "Working conditions and health of Community Health Agents in the north of Minas Gerais: a longitudinal study" carried out with professionals working in the 135 units of the Health Strategy of the family in the municipality of Montes Claros-MG, between August and October 2018, with a mean age of 36.7±9.8 years. From the results found, seven technical products were produced, being an article, a pitch video, an interview, two book chapters, a health education event and the creation of a profile on the social network Instagram. The article aimed to analyze the factors associated with lifestyle in ACS (sociodemographic, work, behavioral and clinical habits) in the Municipality of Montes Claros. Data collection took place at the Regional Worker's Health Center, by previously trained researchers and scientific initiation students, using questionnaires. The lifestyle outcome variable was assessed using the Fantastic Lifestyle (EVF) instrument, in addition to sociodemographic factors (marital status, skin color, economic situation, sex, age); labor factors (time as ACS; work ability index); behavioral habits (sedentary behavior, perception of health status); clinical factors (Body Mass Index, perception of self-esteem, symptoms of depression). The sum of the points of the EVF instrument leads to a total score that classifies individuals into five categories: “Excellent” (85 to 100 points), “Very good” (70 to 84 points), “Good” (55 to 69 points), “Regular” (35 to 54 points) and “Needs improvement” (0 to 34 points). In this study, the results were dichotomized into Adequate (comprising the score from 55 to 100 points) and Inadequate (comprising the range from 0 to 54 points). For data analysis, descriptive analyzes were performed using simple and relative frequencies, dichotomized according to gender. Then, bivariate analyzes were performed using Pearson's chi-square test and the variables associated with lifestyle, up to a significance level of 25% (p ≤ 0.25), were included in the multiple analysis using the Backward method Wald. The adjusted odds ratios (OR) were estimated with their respective 95% confidence intervals, remaining in the model only those with a significance level of 5% (p< 0.05). The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the State University of Montes Claros, with approval number 2,425,756. After the multivariate analysis, the Inadequate lifestyle was present in about 10% of the CHAs, remaining associated with the inadequate Work Ability Index (WAI) (OR= 2.25 – 95%CI 1.30; 3.91 ), the worst perception of health status (OR =2.66 – 95%CI 1.46; 4.84). CHWs who had altered BMI were more likely to have an Inadequate lifestyle (OR = 2.33 – 95%CI 1.20; 4.52). The event entitled “1st Week of the Community Health Agent: taking care of those who care” was carried out through online lectures, the video pitch and the interview for the Vida e Saúde Program, from Rede Record Minas, which was aired on 30/ 08/2022, contributed to promote the study findings. In addition, a profile was created on the social network “Instagram”, called “Portal do ACS”, fed daily with informational content on health promotion and prevention. Currently this profile has about 5,500 followers. It is expected that these findings promote an appreciation of the health aspects of the CHA, by the health management and the community in general, as it puts important elements into perspective, helping to build strategies to promote the health of these workers.