Conhecimentos, atitudes e práticas de profissionais da saúde frente à transmissão vertical da hepatite B

Abstract

Viral hepatitis have epidemiological importance in the world and especially in Brazil, where all of the forms of hepatitis are a severe public health problem, among them hepatitis B, in view of the possibility of vertical transmission of the disease. Therefore, the Ministry of Health in Brazil established the National Program for Prevention and Control of Viral Hepatitis, in which the prevention of child transmission should be incorporated into prenatal care. This study aims to identify the knowledge of physicians and nurses, from the family health strategy and from a public maternity hospital, in the west area of Manaus, and relate to their attitudes and practices regarding the vertical transmission of hepatitis B, and sociodemographic characteristics of the professionals. This is a study on primary data collected through self-filling questionnaire, applied in the maternity and with the teams of the Family Health Strategy (FHS), Manaus, Amazonas. We surveyed 167 nurses and doctors distributed as follows: 68 from FHS and 99 of the maternity ward. The questionnaires were structured and entered in Epi Info software and database exported to the STATA 9.0 statistical program. The data were analyzed in two stages: descriptive and analytical. The answers were described as knowledge, attitudes and practices for hepatitis B and its transmission. Associations were evaluated by chi-square test or Fisher as appropriate to the level of 5%. The standardized residuals of chi-square tests were evaluated, with significance was greater than 1.96. The results showed the prevalence of females, the predominant age group in FHS was 30 to 39 years 60.3% and 47.5% in the maternity. Associations were observed among knowledge, attitudes and practices with the type of bachelor degree (nurse and doctor), workplace (ESF and maternity), opportunity for professional training about viral hepatitis, and use the manual of the Ministry of Health and the attitudes and practices. These results show a need for training, especially for professionals involved in prenatal, delivery and / or postnatal. We suggest measures aimed at increasing the use of textbooks for professionals as they provide knowledge and attitudes and practices appropriate to the care and prevention of vertical transmission of hepatitis B. Also, it is necessary the commitment of professionals, services, and the establishment and enforcement of clearly defined protocols.