Performance of Physical Education Professionals from the Academia da Cidade Program in Primary Health Care in Recife

Resumo

This cross-sectional, descriptive, quantitative study aimed to analyze the performance of physical education professionals from the Academia da Cidade Program (ACP) in Primary Health Care (PHC) in Recife, Brazil. The study included 104 professionals who worked in ACP centers in the city of Recife. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. We also assessed variables related to participants' sociodemographic and professional profile, their performance in the ACP, out-of-center activities, and cooperation with PHC. Data were stored and organized using the EpiData software version 3.1 and then analyzed using SPSS version 10.0. Most professionals were female (61.5%), aged 30 to 39 years old (76.9%) and had not served any public health internships during their initial training (71.2%). As for their performance in PHC, most professionals carried out out-of-center activities in the community (77.3%), but these activities were not implemented in conjunction with the Family Health Units (68.3%) nor with the Family Health Support Centers (75.7%). Of those who implemented joint activities, 81.8% of participants built dialogue with community health agents. Furthermore, 57.7% stated that users’ referral to Family Health Units occurred in an informal manner. We conclude that the performance of physical education professionals of the ACP in PHC in Recife has been made effective through the implementation of out-of-center activities; however, these activities are not integrated with existing PHC strategies.