Respiratory problems in infants: knowledge of the day-care center workers

conhecimento dos profissionais da creche

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess educators' knowledge of the major signs and symptoms of infant respiratory problems as well as their risk factors in a day-care center. This is a descriptive study, conducted at a public day-care center in Fortaleza, state of Ceará, Brazil. This institution follows children aged 1 to 6 years old in fulltime care. For data collection, interviews were conducted with 11 educators at the day-care center, during November and December, 2005, covering issues about the educator's knowledge on the signs and symptoms and risk factors for respiratory problems. All the educators were female, with ages ranging from 20 to 40 years. In spite of only one officially hired worker, in a broad sense, they had professional training in the area (9/11). Signs and specified symptoms included fever and fatigue (11/11), followed by coryza (10/11). Many of the interviewees (9/11) emphasized that the day-care center presented risk factors for respiratory problems, being mentioned the contact among children (8/11), children sleeping at the day-care center (8/11) and the presence of smokers (6/11). The results revealed the need for health educational activities for the center's educators, managed by health care professionals, in order to obtain more effective child health prevention and promotion.