Autoeficácia de mães residentes em microáreas de risco na prevenção da diarreia infantil

Abstract

Social Determinants of Health (SDH) are social, economic, cultural, racial, psychological and behavioral factors that influence the occurrence of health problems such as infant diarrhea. Among the behavioral factors the maternal self-efficacy may be considered with a strong predictor for the promotion of child health, given is associated with the confidence of mothers in relation to their personal skills and attitudes that support the prevetion of childhood diarrhea. This study aimed to analyze the self-efficacy of mothers of children under five years old living in small risk areas, as their potential to prevent diarrhea. This was a longitudinal study design with quantitative approach, performed in a Unit of Primary Health Care in Fortaleza-CE, Brazil, with a sample of 90 mothers. Data collection was conducted in the period April-July 2013 through interviews, in two stages: the first, in contact with the mothers in Unit of Primary Health Care, and the second, conducted through telephone contacts for three months follow-up. In the first stage of data collection, two instruments were applied: the Maternal Self-Efficacy Scale for the Prevention of Infant Diarrhea and sociodemographic form. Already in the second , and were applied the Maternal Self-Efficacy Scale for the Prevention of Infant Diarrhea to form that addresses the episodes of childhood diarrhea, signs and symptoms , treatment used and conduct of health professionals. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences, version 20. The Research Ethics Committee of the Universidade Federal do Ceará approved the project. The mean age of mothers was 29 years ( SD ± 7.5). Predominated married/ common-law marriage, women with five to eight years of study, housewives, with a per capita income of less than R $ 169.50. There was statistical significance between the sociodemographic variables and the mean scores of the four moments of Maternal Self-Efficacy Scale for the Prevention of Infant Diarrhea (p < 0.05 ) : age, marital status , maternal education , occupation , income per capita , number of residents in the household , paragraph of children , sex of the child . For sanitary variables showed statistical significance ( p < 0.05 ): type of home, type of flooring , disposal of garbage ,flies in the house, type of sewage origin and treatment of water, soap near the taps, type of toilet, existence of refrigerator and presence of animals in the household. The comparison between per capita income and episodes of childhood diarrhea, can be seen a significant association (p< 0.001), indicating that children belonging to a household with lower income had more episodes of diarrhea. The chance of the children of mothers with moderate self-efficacy submit diarrhea was 4.5 times greater than the children of those with high self-efficacy, the second moment of follow-up. Thus, we can conclude the importance of using the instrument Maternal Self-Efficacy Scale for the Prevention of Infant Diarrhea in families of children under five, because when applied to different time intervals, Nursing can not only monitor maternal self-efficacy as associate it with environmental conditions, socio-economic, cultural and behavioral mothers, who can directly influence the occurrence of diarrheal episodes in order to intervene with educational actions for the promotion of child health.