NUTRITIONAL COUNSELING OFFERED TO CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH DISABILITIES

Objective: To evaluate the nutritional counseling offered to children and adolescents with disabilities in the municipality of Santa Cruz, RN, Brazil. Methods: Observational, crosssectional, population-based study, developed from May to December 2013, with 102 children and adolescents attending a Children’s Rehabilitation Center. We conducted socioeconomic, demographic, health and lifestyle assessments, and evaluated the received nutritional assistance (whether they had received nutritional counseling from any health professional in relation to food and nutrition, how often it occurred and which professional conducted such counseling). Results: Only 37% (n=37) of parents had received some nutritional guidance. Regarding the frequency of counseling, only 11.8% (n=4) of the youngsters received it 7 or more times/year; 23.5% (n=8) received it 2 to 6 times/year; and most (64.7 %, n=22) received it 1 time/year or less. The length of the nutritional counseling was short: the majority (64.7%, n=22) received only one guidance session throughout the whole period attending the institution, and less than 15% (n=5) received counseling for more than six consecutive months. For the majority (73.5%, n=25), the amount of time receiving nutritional guidance has not reached half of the monitoring period. Nutritional counseling was carried out mainly by nutritionists (89.2%, n=33). Conclusion: There was a low frequency of nutritional counseling directed specifically to the disabilities presented by the participants. When such activity was conducted, it occurred irregularly during the participant´s follow-up, only during a short period of time, and lacking connection with the monitoring by the multidisciplinary team.

Perception of HIV among pregnant women in the public health system in two municipalities of the state of São Paulo

Aim: To verify the knowledge of pregnant women on mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV, the availability of HIV tests in the public health system and counseling on the disease in two cities, Birigui and Piacatu, São Paulo State, Brazil. Methods: This is a descriptive and exploratory research using as samples, the files of 141 pregnant women attending the Basic Health Unit. Data were collected by survey, followed by a semi-structured questionnaire with open and closedend questions. Data were analyzed on Epi Info™ 7.1.4, by the Chi-square and Exact Fisher tests. Results: From all the 141 pregnant women, 119 were interviewed and 92.4% reported to have been informed about the need of taking the HIV test during prenatal exams. However, only 5.9% were counseled and 20.2% reported to be aware of how to prevent MTCT of HIV, usually mentioning lactation suppression and prescribed medication. The association between the knowledge about how to prevent MTCT of HIV and some social, demographic and economic variables like ethnics, educational level, home location, occupation, age and parenting was not verified. Conclusions: It is necessary to advise pregnant women on the importance of taking the HIV test regardless of the examination outcome, which was not observed in the cities where the research was conducted.