Serious game is an effective learning method for primary health care education of medical students: A randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare the influence of a serious game dedicated to primary health care with traditional learning methods on knowledge of undergraduate medical students. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial was conducted with undergraduate medical students. The students (n = 27) attended to an expositive leveling lesson regard the theme "Screening on Primary Health Care", and answered to a baseline knowledge test, comprised by objective questions. Students were randomly allocated to the control and game groups, in which received a text-based material regarding "Screening on Primary Health Care" or were exposed to a serious game. An immediate knowledge test and a retention knowledge test, presenting the same questions of baseline test, were responded by students at the finish of exposure and four weeks later. The students also performed a survey evaluating the user experience on the serious game. Knowledge test scores were analysed by repeated measures ANOVA and paired sample t-test. User experience and expectation surveys were descriptively analyzed. RESULTS: For the control group, the mean scores and standard deviation were 7.85 ±â€¯0.99, 9.00 ±â€¯1.87 and 7.69 ±â€¯1.44 for baseline, immediate and retention knowledge tests, respectively; the score at immediate test was higher than for baseline and retention tests. The game group presented 7.07 ±â€¯1.98, 8.00 ±â€¯1.84 and 7.15 ±â€¯1.41 for baseline, immediate and retention knowledge tests, respectively. The comparison between groups did not show differences at any moment (p < 0.05). The majority of the participants consider that the serious game has understandable instructions, presented the contents clearly, and it favors the engagement on study. CONCLUSION: The serious game was effective to improve the students' knowledge on primary health care contents. Learning based on a serious game is as effective as learning based on printed text.

[Analysis of the use of data from the Primary Health Care Information System (SIAB): an integrative review of the literature]. / Análise da utilização das informações do Sistema de Informação de Atenção Básica (SIAB): uma revisão integrativa.

This paper aimed to identify instances of the use of data from the Primary Health Care Information System in the existing scientific literature. This study is an Integrative Literature Review and the search for articles was performed in May, 2013 in the Virtual Healthcare Library (MedLine, Lilacs and SciELO), considering publications from 2008 to 2012. The search for articles initially located 164 texts, though after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, this review concentrated on 12 articles. The main results showed that there are fragilities like the use of the form just for the record and the insufficient training of the teams. However, the positive aspect is that the Primary Health Care Information System is the leading source of health information and statistics, and that its information can and must be used for health planning activities. Thus, it is an information system that assists municipal management and the actions in health of its teams, alerting the community to the need for care of individual health.

Adapting and testing the oral impacts on daily performances among adults and elderly in Brazil.

OBJECTIVES: To cross-culturally adapt and evaluate the psychometric properties of the oral impact on daily performance (OIDP) in Brazilians aged 50-74 years; to test the impact of oral health on 'work' and 'vigorous physical activity'. BACKGROUND: Clinical oral health indicators do not assess the perceived impact of oral health on people's lives. METHODS: The study was performed through small group interviews, pilot studies and a main study with 200 people aged 50 and over. Data were collected through interviews in health centres. RESULTS: For content validity, 'eating' (1.00, p < 0.001) and 'speaking' (0.96, p < 0.001) obtained the highest level of agreement among experts. For criterion and construct validity, there was an inverse correlation between self-rated oral health, perceived oral treatment needs and satisfaction with oral health and OIDP score. Cronbach's alpha coefficient varied from 0.69 to 0.67 when 'work' and 'vigorous physical activities' were deleted. Test-retest reliability was 0.69 (ICC). CONCLUSION: The validation process showed that the Brazilian OIDP has the necessary basic psychometric properties to be used in the 50-74 years age group in Brazil. 'Work' and 'vigorous physical activities' had low impact on oral health. The activity 'vigorous physical activities' was not maintained in the instrument because of its low impact, while 'work' was maintained due of the increase in the 50-59 years age group in the Brazilian population.

[Instrument for evaluating the actions of leprosy control in Primary Care]. / Instrumento para avaliação das ações de controle da hanseníase na Atenção Primária.

The study aimed to construct and validate an instrument to assess the leprosy actions control in primary care from the perspective of community health agents (CHA). This is a methodological study to validate instruments, based on the Classical Test Theory. The instrument was administered to 380 CHA of three municipalities in the state of Minas Gerais, in the period from July to December 2012. In the stage of face and content validity 17 items of the instrument were reduced. The factor analysis extracted eight factors that accounted for a percentage of 35.7% of the total variance. The principal components analysis allowed the elimination of eight items that showed no adaptation to the factors defined. The overall Cronbach alpha for the 57 items was 0.858. We conclude that the instrument is valid to evaluate the performance of primary care in leprosy control in the experience of ACS.

[Validity and reliability of the Argentine version of the PCAT-AE for the evaluation of primary health care]. / Validez y fiabilidad de la versión argentina del PCAT-AE para evaluar la atención primaria de salud.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the validity and reliability of the version of the Primary Care Assessment Tool for adult users, adapted for Argentina (known as AR-PCAT-AE). METHODS: Two cross-sectional pilot studies were conducted among people over age 17, largely through self-administered questionnaires. Items that were equivalent to the original version of the PCAT and 13 others proposed for the instruments were analyzed. The factorial validity and reliability of the scores for each dimension were studied. The validity indicators were: factors that had three or more items with a factorial load of > 0.35, item-total correlation > 0.30, and interpretation of the solution according to the theoretical model. RESULTS: The factorial analysis yielded nine factors that explained 57.4% of the variability. Considering the pre-established criteria for validity, two items were excluded from the dimensions of continuity and comprehensiveness and six were added to comprehensiveness and cultural competency. In the dimensions, the percentage of questions with an item-total correlation of greater than 0.30 ranged from 67% to 100% and the Chronbach's (alpha) coefficient of internal consistency ranged from 0.44 to 0.90. CONCLUSIONS: The validity and reliability of the AR-PCAT-AE questionnaire are adequate, maintaining high equivalence with the original version. The process presented could be adopted in other contexts to advance the evaluation of primary health care functions with quality tools.