Community health agents and knowledge about leprosy: possibilities for improving work from educational activity

Abstract

Introduction: Strategies of Continuing Education in Health (CEH) are implemented to provide technical and scientific knowledge update using pedagogical methodologies of knowledge transmission. CEH must be directed to the local reality, aiming at improving the services provided. Objectives: To evaluate the impact of a CEH proposal aimed at improving the work of Community Health Agents (CHA) in a Piauí municipality on general aspects, transmission, diagnosis and the means of curing leprosy. Methods: Initially, 43 CHA answered a questionnaire containing 39 questions on various topics in leprosy. After 15 days after the questionnaires were resolved, the CHA was invited to attend a lecture on leprosy and a fortnight after the lecture, the participants were invited to reassess the level of information on leprosy. Results: The CHAs’ level of information on the main basic aspects of leprosy went from “regular” (64.68% of correct answers) to “good” (76.52% of correct answers) after the lecture. After the lecture there was a significant increase in the total number of correct answers (p = 0.0457) and a decrease in abstentions (p = 0.0001), however the reduction in the total number of errors did not show a strong association with the CEH measures (p = 0, 0528). Conclusion: The approach on the main topics on leprosy through lectures proved to be a good measure of CEH in primary care.