Multi-professional action in family health: increasing the look at malnourished children intervention - doi:10.5020/18061230.2008.p128

Abstract

Objective: To describe the route covered by a multi-professional team within a Project accomplished with malnourished children aged 1 to 5 years old and their families. Methods: A quantitative research held with a study population of 165 children under responsibility of a Family Health Team (ESF) of São Paulo municipality. The studied variables were: family socio-economical data, food consumption evaluation, a development sorting and nutritional status classification by Z score. Based on these data, intervention activities were planned, involving education workshops on child health, culinary workshops and domicile visits. Results: The socio-economical aspects revealed a low family income, with an average study period of 6 years, inadequate food consumption and 53(32.1%) children found themselves malnourished. The development sorting showed that 33(62.3%) children were in risk situation, being the speech area the most compromised. Conclusion: In order to accomplish health interventions, it is fundamental to know the community in which one is inserted, for only doing so it is possible to get close to the real necessities and to establish adequate nutrition strategies, that favor the autonomy and the responsibility of the individuals for health care.