FAMILY COMPETENCIES FOR HEALTH PROMOTION AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

A STUDY WITH 2600 FAMILIES IN CEARÁ, BRAZIL

Abstract

The strengthening of family and community practices that promote child survival, growth and development is a major strategy of WHO/UNICEF towards acomplishing its goals for the new millenium. The cross sectional study analised the main family’s socio-economic characteristics, pre-school child biological and morbidity features and mothers’ knowledge, atitude and practices related to child care, in 22 municipalities of the State of Ceara, Northeastern Brazil. In each municipality 120 families with children below 6 years of age, randomly selected, were visited, and 2,612 mothers interviewed. About 30% of the families had no tap water or public sewage system available. Iliteracy achieved 13% of the mothers and 19% of the fathers. A positive association between maternal education and participation of the fathers in both, antenatal and delivery care was observed. Mothers more educated were also more prone to not smoking during pregnancy, to breastfeed their babies and to attend a post-partum consultation. Considerably high proportions of children were breastfed, 27% on average, and fully imunized (85%). While 70% of them received more fluids when sick, 53% received a lower amount of solid foods. For most of the mothers ‘fever’ was identified as the main threath to the child’s health. In relation to child development, it was observed a poor household enviroment in terms of availability of ludic materials, and a rich one in relation to childadults interaction. While in families with higher level of maternal education the grandmother more frequently was the alternative child care-taker, in families with lower levels of education older children more frequently took such role. The study measured the family’s level of competence to promote child health and development, raising several child care issues amenable to interventions, as well as identified positive aspects to be stimulated.