Carolina Marques Borges

Social capital and self-rated health among adolescents in Brazil: an exploratory study

BackgroundSocial capital may influence health and the patterns of association differ according its dimension such as cognitive, behavioral, bridging or bonding. There is a few numbers of studies in Latin America which comprise these aspects of social capital and health. The aim of this study was to examine the association between social capital and self-rated health among youth, and distinguish between the different forms of social capital - cognitive versus behavioral, and bonding versus bridging.FindingsA cross-sectional study was conducted in 2009 among working adolescents supported by a Brazilian NGO. The sample comprised 363 individuals and data were collected using a validated structured questionnaire. The outcome, self-rated health, was measured as a dichotomous variable (poor/good health) and fourteen social capital indicators were investigated (cognitive, behavioral and bonding/bridging). Data were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression. Cognitive (social support and trust), behavioral (civic participation) and bridging social capital were associated with good self-rated health after adjustment of all the other social capital indicators and confounders (sex, age, skin color and educational background).ConclusionsSocial capital was associated with self-rated health and the patterns of association differed according its specific dimensions. Cognitive, behavioral and bridging social capitals were protective for adolescents health living in a developing country context..

Perfil das perdas dentárias em adultos segundo o capital social, características demográficas e socioeconômicas

Demographic and socioeconomic conditions play an important role in tooth loss in the population, however, there is little scientific evidence regarding the influence of social capital on this outcome. The scope of this study was to describe the tooth loss profile of adults aged 35-44, who are residents of the surrounding area of the city of Belo Horizonte in the state of Minas Gerais. This cross-sectional exploratory study comprised a sample of 1,013 adults. The dependent variable was tooth loss. Exploratory variables were social capital, demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. The Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detector (CHAID) was used to map the adult tooth loss profile which was explained by low levels of social capital (47.0%; p < 0.001), more elderly adults (60.2%; p < 0.001), and low education levels (66.3%; p = 0.022). In the high social capital group, age was the determinant factor of tooth loss, irrespective of educational level or per capita income. The conclusion, at the individual level, is that social capital as well as demographic and socio economic characteristics explained the adult tooth loss profile. Individual social capital may have attenuated the negative influence of socioeconomic factors in the population under scrutiny.

Avaliação da dor como quinto sinal vital na classificação de risco: um estudo com enfermeiros

Objective: To evaluate the use of pain evaluation and the risk classification used by nurses. Material and Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study with a sample size of 15 nurses from the course of Urgency, Emergency and Trauma, Continued Education Institute, at Pontificia Universidade Catolica de Minas Gerais. The tool used for data collection was a questionnaire developed especially for this study which comprised six questions related to perception and knowledge of the nurses about pain evaluation as a vital sign. Results: From the total respondents, fourteen (93.3%) were female, nine (60.0%) were 25 years old or older and the marital status more often reported was single (66.6%). The time since graduation ranged between two and five years. Only three (20.0%) individuals worked with risk classification approach although all of total respondents agreed that the pain might help on risk classification; thirteen classified pain as a vital sign. Conclusion: In spite of the answers that considered the pain evaluation as an important issue to take into account during risk evaluation, half of them do not use this approach in their workplace. New studies with a more refined method, as well as investigations targeting other health professionals are strongly recommend.

Measuring social capital through multivariate analyses for the IQ-SC

BackgroundSocial capital can be viewed as a societal process that works toward the common good as well as toward the good of the collective based on trust, reciprocity, and solidarity.Our study aimed to present two multivariate statistical analyses to examine the formation of latent classes of social capital using the IQ-SC and to identify the most important factors in building an indicator of individual social capital.FindingsA cross-sectional study was conducted in 2009 among working adolescents supported by a Brazilian NGO. The sample consisted of 363 individuals, and data were collected using the World Bank Questionnaire for measuring social capital. First, the participants were grouped by a segmentation analysis using the Two Step Cluster method based on the Euclidian distance and the centroid criteria as the criteria for aggregate answers. Using specific weights for each item, discriminant analysis was used to validate the cluster analysis in an attempt to maximize the variance among the groups with respect to the variance within the clusters. “Community participation” and “trust in one’s neighbors” contributed significantly to the development of the model with two distinct discriminant functions (p < 0.001). The majority of cases (95.0%) and non-cases (93.1%) were correctly classified by discriminant analysis.ConclusionsThe two multivariate analyses (segmentation analysis and canonical discriminant analysis), used together, can be considered good choices for measuring social capital. Our results indicate that it is possible to form three social capital groups (low, medium and high) using the IQ-SC.

Social and health indicators as a measure of access to primary heathcare in Brazil

The aim was to investigate the influence of social and health indicators on access to Primary Healthcare in the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Secondary data of 34 municipalities were analyzed; the dependent variables were three basic healthcare indicators: coverage of the Family Health Strategy; coverage of scheduled first dental appointment and mean annual number of appointments in medical specialties per inhabitant. All independent variables were analyzed using Principal Component Analysis, with VARIMAX rotation and Kaiser normalization. Students t-test was used to compare the components originated by the factor analysis in relation to the primary care indicators with a significance of 5%. The development conditions had significantly greater weight in cities with low FHS coverage (p=0.022). The socioeconomic conditions were weighted significantly higher in municipalities with high dental appointment coverage (p=0.030) and with greater mean number of medical appointments (p=0.022). Socioeconomic and development conditions may be crucial to the identification of municipalities with the best and worst primary care indicators.

Empoderamento e qualidade de vida de adolescentes trabalhadores assistidos por uma entidade filantrópica de apoio ao adolescente

O objetivo deste trabalho foi medir o empoderamento de adolescentes trabalhadores e testar sua possivel associacao com a qualidade de vida. Estudo transversal realizado com 363 adolescentes trabalhadores assistidos por uma Entidade Filantropica de Apoio ao Adolescente. A coleta de dados ocorreu por meio da aplicacao de dois questionarios, sendo um utilizado para mensurar a qualidade de vida (WHOQoL-Bref) e as questoes sobre empoderamento do Questionario Integrado para Medir Capital Social do Banco Mundial (QIMCS). A variavel dependente (empoderamento) foi construida pelo agrupamento dos participantes, por meio da analise de segmentacao. O teste Kruskal-Wallis foi utilizado para a comparacao dos escores dos dominios do WHOQoL-Bref (fisico, psicologico, relacoes sociais e meio ambiente) entre os clusters, com 5% de significância. Em relacao a analise de segmentacao, 126 (34,7%) adolescentes foram classificados como de baixo empoderamento, 161 (44,4%) formaram o grupo moderado e 70 (19,3%) possuiam maior empoderamento. O cluster com alto empoderamento apresentou as maiores medias dos escores de qualidade de vida em todos os dominios. O teste Kruskal-Wallis revelou diferencas estaticamente significantes entre os clusters para os dominios psicologico (p=0,001), relacoes sociais (p=0,003) e global (p=0,024). Concluiu-se que melhores escores de qualidade de vida foram encontrados no grupo de adolescentes com maior empoderamento.

Quality of life of three health care workers categories in a hospital in Minas Gerais, Brazil

ABSTRACT Objective : investigate the quality of life of three health care workers in a philanthropic Hospital in Minas Gerais. Method : this is about a descriptive study, from transversal design (n=27) with nurses, doctors and physiotherapists whom work in a philanthropic Hospital in Minas Gerais. The valid and reliable Portuguese WHOQOL-bref version was used as a tool to measure quality of life. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Pontificia Universidade Catolica de Minas Gerais, Brazil with protocol number 1662.0.000.213-0. Results : dichotomization of all WHOQoL scores based on respective medians showed that most of professionals had partial scores under it: Physic (55.6%), Psychology (63.0%), Social (74.1%) and Environmental (70.4%). Conclusions : measurement of health care workers’ quality of life suggests low quality of life among them, however due descriptive study design it was not possible to consider none comparison among the three health care worker’s categories. Descriptors : quality if life; professional practice; intensive care units. RESUMO Objetivo : investigar a qualidade de vida de tres categorias profissionais da saude de um hospital filantropico de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brasil. Metodo : trata-se de estudo transversal descritivo (n=27) com enfermeiros, medicos e fisioterapeutas de um Hospital Filantropico no interior de Minas Gerais. O instrumento utilizado para mensurar a qualidade de vida foi o World Health Organization Quality Of Life na sua versao abreviada traduzida e validada para o portugues, mediante a aprovacao do Comite de Etica em Pesquisa da Pontificia Universidade Catolica de Minas Gerais sob o Certificado de Apresentacao para Apreciacao Etica (CAAE) – 1662.0.000.213-0. Resultados : a dicotomizacao dos escores do WHOQoL feitas pelas respectivas medianas mostrou que a maioria dos profissionais apresentou escore parcial abaixo da mediana, Fisico (55,6%), Psicologico (63,0%), Social (74,1%) e Ambiental (70,4%). Conclusao : a mensuracao da qualidade de vida dos profissionais de saude entrevistados sugere uma baixa qualidade de vida dos mesmos, no entanto devido ao carater descritivo do estudo nao foi possivel realizar nenhum tipo de comparacao entre as tres categorias profissionais. Descritores : qualidade de vida; pratica profissional; unidades de terapia intensiva. RESUMEN Objetivo : investigar la calidad de vida de las tres categorias de profesionales de la salud de un hospital filantropico de Minas Gerais. Metodo : estudio descriptivo transversal (n=27) con las enfermeras, medicos y terapeutas en un hospital de beneficencia en el estado de Minas Gerais. El instrumento utilizado para medir la calidad de vida era la de la Organizacion Mundial de la Salud la calidad de vida en su version abreviada traducido y validado por los portugueses. El estudio fue aprobado por el Comite de Etica de la Pontificia Universidade Catolica de Minas Gerais con el numero de protocolo 1662.0.000.213-0. Resultados : La dicotomia de la WHOQOL realizados por sus medianas mostraron que la mayoria de los profesionales tenian una puntuacion parcial por debajo de la mediana, fisico (55,6%), psicologico (63,0%), sociales (74,1%) y Medio Ambiente (70,4%). Conclusion : La medicion de la calidad de vida de los profesionales de la salud sugiere una menor calidad de vida para nosotros mismos, sin embargo debido a la naturaleza descriptiva de este estudio no fue posible hacer una comparacion entre las tres categorias profesionales. Descriptores : calidad de vida, practica profesional; unidades de terapia intensiva.