Motivos da procura de usuários ao Centro de Testagem e Aconselhamento (CTA)

Abstract

Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) are common and daily contaminate more than one million people in the world. The Testing and Counseling Centers (CTA) provide tests for diagnosing these conditions on the SUS network. This work aims to know the reasons for the search of users to the CTA. This is a quantitative, cross-sectional study with descriptive analysis of secondary data carried out at the CTA in Santo Antônio de Jesus, Bahia. The population consisted of people served from January to December 2015, totaling 735 visits, with the exclusion criterion being the lack of reason for the search. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 22.0, evaluating mean, proportion, frequency and percentage. The most frequent reasons for seeking care were 'knowledge of the serological status' with a frequency of 53.2% and 'prevention' with 17.8%. Evidencing a positive result, since it refers to the self-care of individuals through the search initiative. However, they may also represent how much users are unaware of the transmission mechanisms of STIs, or that they do not identify their vulnerability, not feeling exposed despite seeking the service, as one of the reasons for this is 'exposure to risk situation' that they obtained a frequency of only 11%. Thus, it is concluded that the reason for the search says a lot about the profile of the population and characterizes the effectiveness of current prevention actions. It is also possible to apprehend that the reason for the demand is a tangible result of the health education offered, which can support new prevention, uptake and education strategies aimed at the population.