Resumo

DIAZ PINERA, Addys María et al. Design and methodology for studying the use of medical and alternative services in a health area. Rev Cubana Hig Epidemiol [online]. 2012, vol.50, n.3, pp. 340-353. ISSN 1561-3003.

Introduction: the use of health services converge not only the need for care of the population in terms of illness, but their beliefs, cultural aspects, but above all, the complex context in which the provision of health services is. Objective: to present the methodology used for studing the use of medical and alternative services in Marcio Manduley health area, municipality of Centro Habana, to solve their health problems. Methods: Three instruments were developed from the literature review and the experience of our investigators, aiming those family members who became ill in the last 30 days or suffered from a chronic illness that did or did not use any alternative or health service. Results: We interviewed 408 families (1244 people) with an average of 31.4 families (95.7 people per polling). 89.0% of families were interviewed on weekdays (Mondays and Tuesdays were the days of higher uptake). Conclusions: The application of these tools provides an approximation on how alternative or health services are used by the population. Replication, refinement, and adaptation to other contexts are helpful to health policy makers to strengthen the work in the primary health care level, and thus provide a quality service to the population.

Palavras-chave : health services; use of services; accessibility; equity in access; health care; non-communicable diseases.

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