Conhecimento, práticas de saúde bucal e perfil dos cuidadores de idosos, em instituições de longa permanência de Belo Horizonte MG/2003

Abstract

This paper evaluates the buccal health practices, as well as the knowledge about them by the elderlys caregivers, who work in long term care facilities in Belo Horizonte. The chosen sample was defined after sampling calculation and was consisted of 181 caregivers, 98 from philanthropic facilities (PHI) and 83 from private facilities (PRIV), in proportion with the population distribution in different facilities classification provided by THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR´S OFFICE OF DEFFENSE FOR THE HANDCAPPED AND THE ELDERLY´S RIGHTS. This work selects the caregivers for interview by systematic selection. The project of this paper was previously submitted to COEP (Comitê de Ética e Pesquisa) Ethics and Research Committee and it was approved. This research uses a data card of the facility, and a structured itinerary for caregivers interviews. Both the instruments were previously tested and adapted in a pilot study. The researcher himself directed the interviews in the mentioned facilities, with the free and clarified approval of their legal responsible individuals. Data was investigated and organized in a systematic way. The results presentation was made through a descriptive statistic for each kind of facility, through graphs and tables. This work used the Q Square Test in certain cases to test the hypothesis and Fishers exact test (p0,05) for other cases. The results showed that most of caregivers from long the care facilities in Belo Horizonte are female. In general, the caregivers from PHI facilities have lower school education than in PRIV facilities. Most of them (98,5%) considered the care as a source of personal well-being. Less than half of the evaluated individuals did not mention difficulties in their profession. The caregivers appointed their relationship with the elderly as the main problem in the practice of their function. Half of the interviewed caregivers achieved their professional knowledge with the daily practice. In relation to the procedures of buccal hygiene, most of the evaluated individuals (76%) affirmed they had had some kind of information about the subject. More than half of the caregivers (52%) considered easy the performing of buccal care. There were not any statistical differences among the easy way of buccal hygiene and the kind of the facility, learning of buccal hygiene procedures of professional experience (p>0,05). The caregivers from both facilities (philanthropic and private) stated that there is normal availability of products for buccal hygiene in the facilities. This paper shows as result, that, in the long-term care facilities, the elderly are cared specially by female. The caregivers from the philanthropic facilities have lower school education than the ones from private facilities. For most of the caregivers, the profession is a source of well-being. The practice is an important way for this group of professionals. Most of them have knowledge about buccal care. The information about procedures of this knowledge does not make their work easier. The main difficulty found by the caregivers is the elderlys resistance in using the procedures of buccal hygiene. There is no problem with the lack of buccal hygiene products.