Accessibility by people with disabilities to health services in areas of São Paulo state - AceSS Project

Author(s)

Shamyr Sulyvan de Castro

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Saúde Pública (FSP/CIR)
• Defense date: 2010-08-03

Examining board members

Chester Luiz Galvao Cesar; Luana Carandina; Fernando Lefevre; Heloisa Brunow Ventura Di Nubila; Fatima Correa Oliver

• Advisor: Chester Luiz Galvao Cesar

Abstract

Introduction. People with disabilities are a population group that have some difficulties in accessibility to health services due to their health conditions. Objective. To study the problems of accessibility of people with physical, hearing and/or visual disabilities to health services in areas of São Paulo state, as well as some discrepancy according to the type of disability and socio-demographic variables. Methods. Cross-sectional study with household interviews conducted in two phases. Phase I: 25 persons with disability were interviewed with an open questionnaire. The interviews were taped, transcribed and the method of data analysis was the Discourse of the Collective Subject. The program Qualiquantsoft was used to analyze the qualitative data. Phase II: 333 persons with disabilities were interviewed with a closed questionnaire that was derived from the original results of Phase I, questions found in other questionnaires and concepts of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Data were analyzed using simple frequencies, ?2-test, ?2-test for trend and Poisson regression with robust variance. The software used in the analysis was Stata 9.2®. Results. The main accessibility problems cited by respondents was the waiting time to be served; no ramps, parking and/or adapted toilets; waiting room with insufficient places; lack of wheelchairs for patients; and rooms blocked by obstacles. Problems of accessibility to health services were reported by 15.92 per cent of the 333 respondents. People with paralysis or amputation or multiple disabilities, as well as those younger than 78 years of age or those who needed help to go to health service, had more problems than others. 35 per cent of the 160 interviewed reported hearing problems to listen and understand what had been said by health professionals. Conclusions. Problems such the waiting time; no ramps; inappropriate parking; poor communication with health professionals and accessibility to the rooms of the health service were reported. The determination of these issues may influence the creation of specific policies and programs for this population group, aiming to improve their overall health and quality of life, through the increment of the accessibility to health services (AU)