Percepção da acessibilidade assistencial aos serviços de saúde pelas pessoas com deficiência física decorrente da hanseníase.

Abstract

The living conditions of people with disabilities due to leprosy (Hansen`s disease) is a great public health problem, however, the access to the health care services, for this population, needs a strengthening. The purpose of this study was to analyze the accessibility to the health assistance for people with physical disabilities caused by leprosy. This is a descriptive study with a qualitative approach, carried out in a Basic Health Unit, in Cajazeiras-PB city. The data were collected in August 2016, by recorded interviews, which were guided by a semi- structured questionnaire, and, through the leprosy compulsory notification records, obtained from the Sistema de Informações de Agravos de Notificação – SINAM (Notifiable Diseases Information System). Then, the data were exposed descriptivelly, and, arranged and categorized by the Bardin content analysis method. The results were discussed according to the pertinent literature. This study was a part of the research entitled "Accessibility to the health care services for people with physical disabilities caused by leprosy", which had a favorable opinion from the Committee for Ethics in Research of the Federal University of Campina Grande - Campus Cajazeiras, under the certificate number 1.421.681. The sample was formed by 7 people with physical disabilities due to leprosy. Most respondents (85.7%) were women, and at the time of the diagnosis, they had a low level of education (85.7%); the predominance (71.4%) was of mixed race/color women (self-declared); with no mentioned occupation (42.8%); diagnosis of multibacillary leprosy (85.7%), and, those that had been diagnosed as paucibacillary, later, were identified as multibacillary; and presenting disability on the lower limbs (71.4%). Among the research participants, 5 (71.4%) live in the same micro area, and 2 (28.5%) of them, reported the occurrence of the disease within the family, before they had been diagnosed. The results revealed that on the perception of the respondents, the accessibility to the health care services was satisfactory. However, all of them, had physical disabilities already installed at the moment of the diagnosis. Thus, evidencing the late diagnosis and the lack of knowledge about the disease, and, exposing the fragility of the health service on provide the necessary accessibility. The study pointed to the need of training for the health professionals and the implementation of more effective strategies to facilitate the early detection of the disease, the surveillance, control and prevention of physical disabilities. We recommended an expressive participation of the health managers to provide favorable conditions to the multidisciplinary team, in order to make possible their efficient work. Moreover, we encourage the development of new studies on this topic, aiming to improve the assistance for the population.