ANALYSIS OF A MODEL FOR CHILD HEARING HEALTH PROGRAM IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE
Training courses, Community Health Workers, Neonatal Schreening, Hearing, Primary Health care.
Introduction: Neonatal Hearing Screening as an isolated action does not guarantee the access of the entire population to specialized care in the appropriate period and does not exclude the possibility of late or progressive hearing loss. Thus, it is necessary to develop complementary actions. The training of Community Health Workers (CHW) and an articulation of primary health care with the Child Hearing Health Program is a strategy to enhance the identification and early intervention of hearing impairment. Aim: To implement and evaluate a model of the Infant Hearing Health Program in Primary Care. Method: An observational study with a prospective longitudinal design, structured in two steps: (1) Analysis of the effectiveness of an online course for CHW training in the area of child hearing health; (2) Analysis of a model of the Child Hearing Health Program in Primary Care. 2859 participants enrolled in the online course. 123 were CHWs and 23 of them constituted a specific group from two primary health care units in the Natal/RN city with face-to-face follow-up (step 2). After the training, the CHWs are putting into practice the knowledge obtained, applying the hearing and language development monitoring questionnaire and referring the children for evaluation when necessary. Partial Results: There was participation of all Brazilian states and other specialties besides the CHWs, with predominance in the medical area. Overall, the course was well evaluated and improved knowledge by comparing pre- and post-training performance. Step 2 is under development.