O ensino da hanseníase em curso de graduação em Enfermagem do Ceará

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one-sixth of the world's population has one or more Neglected Diseases (DN) totaling more than one billion people. Even with the reduction of cases in recent years, leprosy still remains at the top of the prevalent DNs in Brazil. The population's lack of knowledge about the disease and the unpreparedness of health professionals leads to a maintenance of the transmission chain. Health professionals know little about the subject and such deficiency may be related to the lack of content in higher education courses in the health area.The aim of this study was to evaluate the teaching on leprosy among nursing students of a Federal Higher Education Institution located in Fortaleza - Ceará. It is a cross-sectional, descriptive-exploratory study with a mixed approach. The sample consisted of 44 students enrolled in the first and last semester of undergraduate Nursing courses. The data collection took place through a self-administered electronic form, developed through the Google platform, sent by e-mail. The form had data on age, sex, income, information on leprosy teaching in academic formation, and at the end, a mini knowledge test was applied involving 10 objective questions about leprosy. Responses were stored in a free cloud worksheet (Google Drive), linked to the searcher's email. The sample consisted of 24 (54.5%) academic students in the first semester and 20 (45.5%) academics in the last semester, with a mean age of 22.6 ± 6.3 years, female (93.2%; 41/44), the family income between 1 and 3 minimum wages (50.0%, 22/44). 39 students (88.6%) already knew leprosy, occurring in school that first contact. All the scholars of the last semester stated that they had contact with the subject during graduation. The most used approach was an expositive class (40.0%, 20), with a workload of 12 to 20 hours (55.0%, 11). After the application of the specific knowledge test, it was observed that the first semester students presented better performance in the basic knowledge questions, while the last semester demonstrated knowledge throughout the test. In view of the above, it is possible to affirm that the teaching in leprosy taught in the nursing course was partially satisfactory for the theoretical knowledge. Despite this, it is necessary to restructure the workload offered, aiming at the formation of professionals qualified and able to act in the face of leprosy control actions.