Letramento em saúde acerca de infecções sexualmente transmissíveis em população jovem de áreas periféricas no contexto amazônico

Abstract

Functional Health Literacy (FHL) is defined as the ability to obtain, process and understand basic information and services in order to make appropriate decisions regarding health and medical care (CHEHUEN NETO et al., 2019). The Amazon region is experiencing an accelerated growth of STIs, with no studies addressing the possible causes for this behavior. Objective: To evaluate health literacy about STIs in the population of young SUS users who live in peripheral areas in the Amazon context. Methodology: This is a descriptive field study, with a qualitative approach. The population consisted of 34 young people, who live in the District of Water of the Montese neighborhood, aged between 15 and 24 years. The Instrument for Health Literacy was applied, translated and adapted by Lisiane Paskulin et al. (2011) for use in the Brazilian context. The initial sociodemographic data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The qualitative analysis of the contents of the answers to open questions was categorized according to its different dimensions, considering the nature and its frequency was distributed in five dimensions: The understanding about Sexually Transmitted Infection; Search for information about STI; Understanding of STI information; Sharing the information received; The repercussions of information for young people. The project was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the ICS - UFPA opinion, n°. 3,567,868. Regarding to the characterization of participants among young people, 82.35% were aged between 15 and 18 years old, there was a preponderance of females, in sexual orientation, 85.29% said they were heterosexual and in marital status, 61, 77% were single. Regarding education, 44.20% reported having completed high school and 64.70% of families had an income between 1-­2 minimum wages, being 82.35% of young people not working. About the number of partners, 52.95% of young people answered that they had not yet started sexual life, which pointed to the identification of sexual abstinence among young people as a protective factor against exposure to STIs. Functional health literacy was identified as insufficient, more specifically the difficulties of young people in relating causes and effects, lack of knowledge about signs and symptoms and an unconcern regarding the severity of the epidemiological situation of sexually transmitted diseases. The young people's responses in the different dimensions of the analyzed FHLrevealed apparent conformity and passivity about information about STIs. Final considerations: As a result, insufficient functional health literacy in all dimensions was revealed in the studied population. Therefore, there was a need for improvements with regard to health education and the involvement of various spaces such as the school and the Basic Health Unit, acting with actions to improve the health literacy status of young people.