Qualidade de vida associada aos aspectos socioambientais e de saúde da população do Distrito da Ribeira, Cabaceiras.

Abstract

The term quality of life is widely used nowadays, being incorporated into the vocabulary of people with various forms of connotation. The quality of life can be characterized by the biological-social relationship, mediated by mental, environmental and cultural conditions. It includes a potential variety of conditions which may affect the individual's perception, feelings and behaviors related to their daily functioning, considering health as one of its aspects. This study aimed to analyze the quality of life of people living at Ribeira District, Cabacerias-PB, focusing on the perception about environmental aspects, especially regarding to local health. It was a field exploratory, transversal and descriptive study, with a non-probabilistic convenience sample, consisting of 100 individuals, of both sexes, economically active, through a qualitative and quantitative approach. Data were collected through interviews, guided by a semi-structured questionnaire, containing social, demographic, economic, environmental and health variables, as well as physical evaluation and maximum expiratory flow peak, presented in frequency distribution. For associations among variables, Chi-square test with p<0.05 was used, using the statistical package SPSS version 13.0. The results pointed to a poor socioeconomic and health situation, regarding to education level, family income and basic sanitation. We found that, compared with the working conditions, the depletion was present among tanners craftsmen (p =0.04) and that the majority had symptoms of pain, although they didn’t relate them to labor activity performed. Furthermore, it was found that, although environmental perception is present on this population, with a significant association to environmental perception (degradation) and environmental problems (p =0.00) and a significant association of labor activity and the occurrence of pollution at work (p =0.00), is very subdued. With regard to health and quality of life, the physical, psychological and social relationships domains, no significant changes were found. However, the population is deprived of health services and consider health merely the absence of disease, while quality of life is expressed by the majority as being subjective, considering the 'to be healthy'. By evaluating the mentioned results, it is necessary to systematically monitor the living conditions of people from rural areas, implementation of projects involving environmental educational to bring significant benefits to the population, and also promote effective public policies and consistent with local needs.