Home visits under the users’ perception of the family health strategy

Abstract

Study design: Exploratory, descriptive and quantitative study. Objective: To characterize the home visit performed by community health workers through the perception of users. Methodology: a study with 364 registered users in four Health Units of a small municipality Family conducted between July and August 2009. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire administered in the home of the registered families. Results: Of the 364 respondents, half reported receiving home visit monthly, and the duration was approximately five minutes, not interfering in the daily 91% of respondents users. Most (77.2%) said the home visit partially meets their needs and only a third of visits made within the household. However, 75% of the users considered as good or excellent performance of community workers. Conclusions: Most users reported being partially satisfied with the home visit. Thus, there was satisfactory indicators relating to frequency, service needs, performance and position of agents in the home visit. However, its duration, localization and the topics discussed were aspects considered less satisfactory, justifying greater investment in this health action so that the Family Health Strategy fully taps their potential

Keywords

• Home Visit. Community Health Workers. Family Health Strategy Family Health Strategy. Small Cities. Rural health