USERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF ASSISTANCE GIVEN BY THE PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM

• Main Authors: Vanessa Cruz Santos, Karla Ferraz dos Anjos, Ceres Neide Almeida Costa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal do Paraná 2011-03-01
• Series: Cogitare Enfermagem
• Subjects: Community participation; Single health system; Primary health care; Public Health
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.5380/ce.v16i1.21121

This research’s aims were two-fold: to reveal how assistance given by the Public Health Service was perceived among residents of Vitória da Conquista, in the state of Bahía, and to identify recurrent problems in the Single Health System (free-of-charge Public Health system provided by the Brazilian government) in that context. It is an exploratory and quantitative study, carried out in January 2010 with 100 health-service users. Data collection was carried out via structured questionnaires and was analysed with the help of descriptive statistics. The results indicate that some of the interviewees are unaware of various services provided by primary health care, apart from being dissatisfied with how the Single Health System works.