Gestantes atendidas em hospital de referência do SUS : quem são e quais os motivos?

Abstract

To describe the socioeconomic profile of pregnant women seen in a hospital unit of Unified Health System and to iden tify the reasons for non - adherence to prenatal care in Health Centers. A descriptive, cross - sectional study performed in Hospital Regional Materno Infantil , in the municipality of Imperatriz, Maranhão, Northeast Brazil. The data collection took place in August 2011. The sample was composed of 200 pregnant women and data collection was performed with a structured questionnaire. The profile found was: white women (51.5), married (47.0) with age range between 20 and 25 years (32.5), high school (53.0), urban - area residents (90.0), monthly family income of minimum wage (50.0) and the majority (53.5) without employment. The reason for not carrying out pre - natal in Health Centers was the ignorance about the services offered, whereas 17.0% did not know that the u nits had prenatal care, and also 41.0% claimed the insecurity care received. There is a need for measures aimed at improving the quality of prenatal assistance, such as health education, community health staff visits, monitoring of doctors and nurses, prov iding greater participation of pregnant women in this process, with greater safety in the care offered in the basic attention.