Health educational actions on acute respiratory infections for native Ticuna agents

Abstract

Background: in Brazil, as well as in other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, the morbidity and mortality profile of native people is marked by acute respiratory infections as the main cause of illness and death, especially in children under 5 years of age.
Objective: to design educational health actions to raise the level of information in native Ticuna agents about the warning signs of acute respiratory infections.
Methods: a participatory action research with a before and after design was developed in  Campo Alegre Pole Base , Alto Rio Solimões Special native Health District, Amazonas State, Brazil, from March to May 2017. Theoretical methods were used: the analytical-synthetic and the systemic-structural; empirical ones, the survey in the form of a questionnaire; and from the mathematical level, the percentage calculation. The proposal was assessed by criteria of specialists.
Results: most of the agents were male, the age groups from 41 to 50 years and 51 to 60 years predominated, the most frequent interval of years of experience was 16-20 years and the existence of previous preparation was confirmed on acute respiratory infections in 19 out of the 21 health workers analyzed. After its implementation, 16 research subjects improved the level of information on the subject.
Conclusions: the educational actions contributed to increase the knowledge about the warning signs of acute respiratory infections, and therefore, a better effectiveness in the performance of these health agents in the native population.