[Learning portfolios as a tool for reflection: building competencies for work in the Unified Health System]. / Portfólios reflexivos: construindo competências para o trabalho no Sistema Único de Saúde.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the innovative experience of competency education through reflective portfolios for the training of professionals who will work in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS). METHODS: A qualitative research approach was employed. Documentary analysis was carried out covering 25 portfolios produced in the years 2008, 2009, and 2010 in the health policy course at the Federal University of Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil, in order to verify if this method allowed the acquisition of the competencies: learning to be (acting with autonomy, good judgment, personal responsibility); learning to know (assimilating general and specific scientific and cultural knowledge, which will be complemented and updated in the course of life); learning to do (acquiring procedures that will be useful for facing life and work difficulties); and learning to live and work together (better understanding of others, the world, and their inter-relationships). RESULTS: Students became involved with the proposed activities, especially the management of information (active search, selection, critical analyses, reviews, syntheses, and evaluation of information). There was a gradual opening to critical thinking, integrating new dimensions to the initial vision held by students on the SUS, which moved from a focus on disease and healing to a focus on health and prevention, and from a vision of SUS as a theoretical model towards a view of SUS as a feasible project that is under construction. CONCLUSIONS: The use of portfolios has enabled the education of citizen-health professionals, with academic, pedagogical, and practical emphasis. This indicates that universities and teachers can turn to the development of decision-making capacities and reflective thinking by students.

[Evidence of the contribution of elderly support programs to healthy aging in Brazil]. / Evidências da contribuição dos programas de assistência ao idoso na promoção do envelhecimento saudável no Brasil.

OBJECTIVE: To search the literature for evidence of the contribution of elderly health programs to the process of healthy aging in Brazil. METHODS: The databases Science Direct, SciELO, LILACS, IBECS, the Cochrane Library, and MEDLINE were searched to find articles focusing on initiatives developed for the elderly population and to promote healthy aging, providing a multidimensional evaluation of the quality of life of the elderly, and covering aspects relating to specific health promotion practices. The initiatives were considered effective if the following criteria were met: having goals that included the improvement of health and well-being, having a focus on holistic health, using empowerment as a central mechanism to improve health, and meeting the prerequisites for health and developing actions in the priority areas described in the Ottawa Charter. RESULTS: Ten articles referring to five elderly health promotion programs in Brazil were identified. All the programs met the efficacy criteria, and included elements that promoted healthy aging through characteristics that fostered the insertion of the elderly in society through the creation of a support environment for the prevention of injury, increase in functional capacity, and improvement of quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: Studies are required to produce scientific evidence on the efficacy, efficiency, and effectiveness of elderly health programs to determine the value of these actions to promote healthy aging.

Impactos del cuidado de personas con cáncer en la vida del cuidador y la dinámica familiar / Impacts of Caring for Persons with Cancer on the Caregiver and Family Dynamics

Introducción: La existencia de un paciente con cáncer en el seno de la familia implica varios retos y conduce a una necesidad de reorganización de toda la familia para la prestación de cuidados a este individuo, dejando, a veces, de cuidar de sí mismo, generando nuevas demandas a menudo descuidadas. Objetivo: Comprender, desde la perspectiva de los familiares cuidadores, cómo el proceso de cuidar de la persona con cáncer impacta en la vida del cuidador y la dinámica familiar. Métodos: Estudio descriptivo y exploratorio, con enfoque cualitativo realizado con los familiares cuidadores de personas con cáncer de la ciudad de Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brasil, desde diciembre de 2016 hasta enero de 2017. La recopilación de datos se realizó con 7 cuidadores familiares, por medio de una guía con preguntas abiertas, estructurada sobre la base de la escala de Zarit, que se interrumpió cuando hubo la saturación de los datos. El análisis se realizó mediante la técnica de análisis de contenido. Resultados: Los familiares cuidadores mostraron alteraciones en las necesidades humanas básicas relacionadas con los dominios: psicobiológico, psicosocial y psicoespiritual. Tales aspectos orientan las acciones de los profesionales de salud y validan la importancia de una asistencia holística y humanitaria para el cuidador, que también necesita de cuidados. Conclusiones: Los profesionales de enfermería deben actuar en la planificación de acciones que se centran en el apoyo educativo, psicológico, humanizado, empático e integral y en la promoción de la salud, agregados al plan de atención el núcleo familiar, a fin de minimizar el desgaste físico, psicológico y social del cuidador(AU)

Introduction: The existence of a cancer patient within any family implies several challenges and leads to a necessity for reorganization of the whole family in order to provide care for this individual, sometimes ceasing to take care of themselves and generating new demands, often neglected. Objective: To understand, from the perspective of family caregivers, how the process of caring for the person with cancer impacts the caregiver's life and family dynamics. Methods: Descriptive and exploratory study, with a qualitative approach, carried out, from December 2016 to January 2017, with family caregivers of people with cancer, in Viçosa City, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Data collection was carried out with seven family caregivers, using a guide with open questions and structured on the basis of the Zarit scale, which was interrupted when the data was saturated. The analysis was carried out using the content analysis technique. Results: Family caregivers showed alterations in basic human needs related to the psychobiological, psychosocial and psychospiritual domains. Such aspects guide the actions of health professionals and validate the importance of holistic and humanitarian assistance for the caregiver, who also needs care. Conclusions: Nursing professionals must act in planning actions that focus on educational, psychological, humanized, empathic and comprehensive support and health promotion, added to the family nucleus care plan, in order to minimize the physical, psychological and social exhaustion of the caregiver(AU)

Nutritional status and epidemiological profile of elderly people.

We intended to identify and evaluate the association between the socio-demographic and epidemiological characteristics of elderly people with their nutritional characteristics. This is a transversal study PMTI (from the Portuguese name of "Programa Municipal da Terceira Idade"), conducted at Viçosa, MG, Brazil. We analyzed 93 records of elderly people registered since 2006 and who underwent nutritional care. After having analyzed the questionnaire, we performed the descriptive and association analyses in the Epi Info (version 6.04) and Minitab softwares. Of the 93 analyzed records, most elderly people were women (80.4%), with an average of 72 years of age, of which 13.0% were long-lived people. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 27.4 kg/m(2), and 50.5% were overweight. We have found 26.8% elderly patients with hypertension, and 31.6% took antihypertensives. Elderly patients who were overweight are 4.54 times more likely to have arterial hypertension (odds ratio (OR)=4.54; 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.2-2.45). Only 7.5% smoked, 30.1% were alcoholics and 60.2% made physical activities. Inadequacies were found regarding the servings of fruits, dairy products, vegetables and sugars consumed. However, the servings of cereals, leguminous, meat and fat consumed were appropriate. This study showed that the nutritional diagnosis and the epidemiological and socio-demographic studies are critical tools to understand this population group, in addition to being important to the planning of health actions.

Evidências da contribuição dos programas de assistência ao idoso na promoção do envelhecimento saudável no Brasil / Evidence of the contribution of elderly support programs to healthy aging in Brazil

OBJETIVO: Buscar na literatura evidências relativas à contribuição dos programas de promoção da saúde no processo de envelhecimento saudável no Brasil. MÉTODOS: Pesquisaram-se as bases de dados Science Direct, SciELO, LILACS, IBECS, Biblioteca Cochrane e MEDLINE em busca de artigos que enfocassem iniciativas voltadas para a população idosa e o envelhecimento saudável, que avaliassem multidimensionalmente a qualidade de vida do idoso e que tratassem de aspectos relativos às práticas profissionais específicas em promoção da saúde. Para definir a eficácia das iniciativas, adotaram-se os seguintes critérios: ter metas que incluíssem a melhoria da saúde e do bem-estar; ter foco na saúde holística; usar o empoderamento como mecanismo central; atender os pré-requisitos da saúde e realizar ações nas áreas prioritárias da Carta de Ottawa. RESULTADOS: Foram identificados 10 artigos que se referiam a cinco programas de promoção da saúde do idoso no Brasil. Pode-se afirmar que todos os programas apresentados demonstraram elementos que vão ao encontro da promoção da saúde no envelhecimento por abranger características que permitem a inserção dos idosos na sociedade por meio da criação do ambiente de suporte para prevenção de agravos, aumento da capacidade funcional e melhoria da qualidade de vida, tendo sido atendidos os critérios de eficácia. CONCLUSÕES: É preciso produzir evidências científicas acerca da efetividade, eficiência e eficácia dos programas para a terceira idade para que se possa avaliar o valor dessas ações na promoção da saúde no envelhecimento.

OBJECTIVE: To search the literature for evidence of the contribution of elderly health programs to the process of healthy aging in Brazil. METHODS: The databases Science Direct, SciELO, LILACS, IBECS, the Cochrane Library, and MEDLINE were searched to find articles focusing on initiatives developed for the elderly population and to promote healthy aging, providing a multidimensional evaluation of the quality of life of the elderly, and covering aspects relating to specific health promotion practices. The initiatives were considered effective if the following criteria were met: having goals that included the improvement of health and well-being, having a focus on holistic health, using empowerment as a central mechanism to improve health, and meeting the prerequisites for health and developing actions in the priority areas described in the Ottawa Charter. RESULTS: Ten articles referring to five elderly health promotion programs in Brazil were identified. All the programs met the efficacy criteria, and included elements that promoted healthy aging through characteristics that fostered the insertion of the elderly in society through the creation of a support environment for the prevention of injury, increase in functional capacity, and improvement of quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: Studies are required to produce scientific evidence on the efficacy, efficiency, and effectiveness of elderly health programs to determine the value of these actions to promote healthy aging.