How data provided by the Brazilian information system of primary care have been used by researchers.

In this article, we have investigated how researchers use the data provided by the Brazilian Information System of Primary Care . We also searched, for the first time, studies that evaluated the quality and reliability of the information provided by the Primary Care Information System. An integrative review of the literature was performed using the keywords 'information systems, primary care and SIAB' on search databases, and 53 of 174 articles were selected. These publications were classified into two large subgroups: those using the Primary Care Information System as 'data source' and those that took it as the 'object of study'. The first group included 35 studies, 18 of which used demographic and social health data records, and nine described data about diseases, specifically hypertension and diabetes. These data were used by researchers for association with health indicators (20%) or comparison with other information systems (17%), sample or population calculus (9%), estimation of prevalence and characterization of the epidemiological profile of a population (26%) or, more generally, to carry out the assessment of health status (29%). The Primary Care Information System as the 'object of study' group included 18 works, describing the knowledge and practices of professionals in relation to the information system. These researchers pointed out issues in the process of production and information consolidation, mainly due to the lack of training and supervision of community health workers and bureaucratization of their work process. Although some issues in the quality of data provided by the Primary Care Information System were reported by researchers, these findings were not corroborated by two studies that assessed the reliability of information disclosed by this system. Despite changes in the Brazilian health policies, the issue of data quality in health information systems continues to be a challenge preventing data from being used for decision-making and knowledge production.

Reliability of information on people with disabilities gathered by community health workers in highly consanguineous communities of Northeastern Brazil.

BACKGROUND: In Brazil, community health workers have gathered monthly information on people with disabilities to maintain the Primary Care Information System since 1998; however, few studies have used this database for scientific or public health policy purposes. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the reliability of information on people with disabilities gathered by community health workers in primary care services. METHOD: This was a cross-sectional population-based study conducted in two highly consanguineous communities, involving a population of 18,458 inhabitants in Northeastern Brazil. To study the prevalence of people with disabilities, estimations performed by health workers were compared with those obtained by researchers who interviewed 15.6% of the total population. To study the agreement of the information, data on 106 people with disabilities completed independently by researchers and health workers were compared to evaluate the degree of agreement for 28 variables analysed. Kappa statistics (κ) were used to calculate the inter-rater agreement. RESULTS: The prevalence of disability estimated by community health workers was 3.01 and 2.00% for city A and B, respectively, while the percentages obtained by researchers were 6.72 and 5.65%, respectively, showing an underestimation of prevalence according to community health workers. The Kappa index value obtained for all data analysed (2,589 items excluding losses) was 0.808 (p < 0.01), indicating an almost perfect consistency of information collected by health workers compared to by researchers. CONCLUSION: Community health workers collected information with a high degree of reliability, although the identification of the prevalence of disabled individuals was potentially impaired due to the work process.

[Assessment of competencies of community health workers for epidemiological data collection]. / Avaliação de competências de Agentes Comunitários de Saúde para coleta de dados epidemiológicos.

The scope of this study was to assess competencies in terms of reading, comprehension and problem-solving using educational material created for epidemiological research on people with disabilities. A form with twenty multiple-choice questions was prepared and distributed to a sample of 348 community health workers (CHWs) in the State of Paraíba. The socioeconomic profile revealed that, within the sample, most of these CHWs are female, between 30-49 years of age, married or in a stable relationship, with two children and have graduated from high school. Over 98% of CHWs are government employees and more than half have been working for more than eight years in the same community, predominantly in the urban area. The score for overall performance evaluation ranged from 33 to 60 points, with the mean score of 53.44 ± 4.88 points. This means that the CHWs were able to resolve over 65% of the questions properly. The overall performance was positively correlated with education and negatively with age, having children and the time taken to complete high school education. The overall results indicate the increasing professionalization and education of the CHWs and their potential role as collaborators in basic scientific research to make generalizations about public health.

Avaliação de competências de Agentes Comunitários de Saúde para coleta de dados epidemiológicos / Assessment of competencies of community health workers for epidemiological data collection

Este trabalho objetivou avaliar as competências de leitura, interpretação de texto e resolução de problemas de um material didático criado para pesquisa epidemiológica sobre pessoas com deficiências. Uma avaliação contendo vinte questões de múltipla escolha foi desenvolvida e aplicada em uma amostra de 348 agentes comunitários de saúde no estado da Paraíba. A caracterização socioeconômica da amostra mostrou que a maior parte desses profissionais é constituída por mulheres, de 30 a 49 anos, casadas ou que mantêm união estável, com dois filhos e ensino médio completo. Mais de 98% dos ACS são concursados e atuam há mais de oito anos nesta profissão e predominantemente na zona urbana. A pontuação referente ao desempenho global na avaliação variou de 33 até 60 pontos, sendo obtida a média de 53,44 ± 4,88 pontos. Isto significa que os agentes foram capazes de resolver adequadamente mais de 65% das questões. O desempenho global mostrou correlação positiva com a escolaridade e negativa com a idade, ter filhos e o tempo de conclusão do ensino formal. O conjunto dos resultados aponta a crescente profissionalização e escolarização dos ACS, e seu potencial papel como colaborador em pesquisas científicas fundamentais para estabelecimento de generalizações sobre a saúde das populações.

The scope of this study was to assess competencies in terms of reading, comprehension and problem-solving using educational material created for epidemiological research on people with disabilities. A form with twenty multiple-choice questions was prepared and distributed to a sample of 348 community health workers (CHWs) in the State of Paraíba. The socioeconomic profile revealed that, within the sample, most of these CHWs are female, between 30-49 years of age, married or in a stable relationship, with two children and have graduated from high school. Over 98% of CHWs are government employees and more than half have been working for more than eight years in the same community, predominantly in the urban area. The score for overall performance evaluation ranged from 33 to 60 points, with the mean score of 53.44 ± 4.88 points. This means that the CHWs were able to resolve over 65% of the questions properly. The overall performance was positively correlated with education and negatively with age, having children and the time taken to complete high school education. The overall results indicate the increasing professionalization and education of the CHWs and their potential role as collaborators in basic scientific research to make generalizations about public health.