Perception of dentists in primary health care in the care of the homeless

Abstract

Objective: to describe the practices and knowledge of dentists in primary health care in the city
of Ribeirão Preto-SP in relation to the Homeless
Population (HP), to characterize the profile of dentists, and to assess the perception of professionals
in relation to knowledge of the National Policy for
the Homeless Population (NPHP) and their experiences with HP. Methods: this is an exploratory
descriptive cross-sectional study, using an online
self-administered questionnaire. Data were compiled using Microsoft Excel 2010 software and
descriptive data analysis was performed. Results:
The 29 participating dentists, who had some postgraduate level, never received any type of training
on PSR (100%), but they were interested in receiving it (82.7%). They considered their knowledge
of HP as regular (41.4%) and felt partially able to
identify the abusive use of alcohol (44.8%) and
drugs (37.9%). 51.7% have no contact with social assistance services. 38% reported positive
experiences during consultations with the HP,
involving the resolution of emergencies and the
gratitude shown by the HP. 31% reported negative
experiences related to care under the influence
of substances, aggression and non-adherence to
treatment. Despite having knowledge of the sociodemographic characteristics of PSR, 51.7%
of respondents are unaware of the existence of
NPHP. Conclusion: the results show that the primary health care dentists in the municipality are
qualified, but, in general, are not familiar with the
specificities found in the care of the population
and, for the most part, are unaware of the existence of the National Policy for the Population in
Street Situation.
Keywords: homeless people; primary health care;
public health policies; access to health services.