O cuidado à saúde de pessoas com obesidade na perspectiva de profissionais da Atenção Primária no estado do Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

Obesity is a chronic condition of increasing prevalence in developed and developing countries. Primary Health Care (PHC) is configured as a key space for the implementation of actions to prevent and treat this disease and health professionals are essential in this process that requires, among others, the organization and qualification of health services. This study aimed to understand the conceptions of health professionals about the management of health care for people with obesity in PHC in municipalities of the state of Rio de Janeiro (ERJ). It is part of the project entitled "Actions to control and confront obesity in RJ - research, training, monitoring and dissemination" (PEO-ERJ), coordinated by the Institute of Nutrition, Rio de Janeiro State University. This is a qualitative study. The methodological strategies used were: in-depth interviews and self-administered questionnaires. The interviews were conducted with 19 health professionals selected from the group of participants of the PEO-ERJ training course who met the eligibility criteria of this study and the questionnaires were applied to 225 health professionals who participated in a face-to-face PEO-ERJ training activity. The data provided by the interviews and questionnaires were analyzed using the content analysis technique, thematic modality. The data produced by the different research sources (interviews and questionnaires) were approached in an integrated way based on the organizational and professional dimensions of analysis. As results, we highlight, in the organizational dimension, the difficulty in organizing the work process of municipalities to implement actions to prevent and control obesity, the problematic context of the pandemic of COVID-19 and the weaknesses in the flow of care for people with obesity. In the professional dimension, were identified as important elements for health care: difficulties to practice multidisciplinary care to people with obesity, use of behavioral approach in therapeutic conduct, the look for the nutrition professional as the protagonist of care to subjects with obesity and the influence of stigma on adherence to treatment. Thus, it is understood that obesity needs to be treated as a chronic, complex and multifactorial disease that requires continuous care throughout life and for this to happen both the Health Care Network (RAS) and health professionals need to be prepared to offer all necessary support for individuals living with this disease.