The South African government monitors and tracks the health of newborns and the growth of children. The Department of Health (DoH) does this monitoring using the Road to Health Booklet (RtHB). In this dissertation I analyse the use of the booklet in the township of Masiphumelele in Cape Town. The state produced booklet is intended for the child and mother as a patient-held medical health record. Liaw (1993) defines a patient-held record as notes or space provided on a document for the recording of follow up appointments for further investigation by medical doctors. The RtHB is used to record the child’s development, immunisations and HIV related information from birth to the age of twelve years. The dissertation results from ethnographic research with eight black Xhosa1 mothers and caregivers with children under the age of five years old. Mosley, and Chen, (1984), argue that in developing countries where standard child healthcare has been made available, children should survive the first five years of life. In my research, during the period of six weeks between July, August and September 2017, I followed the booklet in to Masiphumelele. From my observation and semi-structured interviews, looking at the state’s role of ‘pastoral’ care, child wellbeing and living in a township, and recording, under the theme of child wellbeing, certain concepts emerged. These concepts were state power, mothering, caring for children, responsibilisation, gender, kinship, fatherhood, child wellbeing knowledge production, social networking. In this dissertation I use ethnographic findings, accompanied by my own personal narratives. I argue that tracking child wellbeing through this booklet, the state exercises what Foucault (1982) referred to as ‘pastoral power’ in ensuring the wellbeing of the populations.

Submitted by Maria Suzana Diniz (msuzanad@hotmail.com) on 2015-11-24T12:16:44Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 876413 bytes, checksum: 3385e1c65ef5280e4b3b663902cb88c6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-11-24T12:16:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 876413 bytes, checksum: 3385e1c65ef5280e4b3b663902cb88c6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-05 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Introduction: The ageing population is a global reality, even in developing countries people have never had a chance to live so long. This new demographic situation caused the necessity to develop legal provisions to guide social and health actions. Among them, the National Health Policy for the Elderly, marked by the paradigm of the functional capacity and along with it comes the Health Handbook of the Elderly, which represents a delimitation instrument of the profile of the elderly, identifying frail elderly people or in the process of embrittlement, collaborating with the formulation of health actions focused on aging well. Objective: The objective of this study is to know the social representations of elderly about the health booklet of the elderly and to understand its membership in the context of primary care. Methodology: This is an exploratory-descriptive study with a qualitative approach performed with 103 elderly people with age above sixty years at the units of the Sanitary District V. The study was conducted between July and September 2014, respecting the ethical criteria of the Resolution 466/12.The data collection was performed by a semi-structured interview contemplating questions related to the booklet. The socio-demographic data were analyzed twice once using Categorical Thematic Content Analysis Technique, which showed six classes or categories: 1) Support for the service; 2) Guidance tool for the elderly; 3) Modality of health information; 4) Descriptions of complications in health; 5) Types of monitoring the health of the elderly; 6) security instrument; referring to two dimensions of social representations: information and knowledge about the book and the position or attitude of the elderly. The second analysis was carried out using Iramuteq 0.7 software was responsible for the social representations: images and representation field of the booklet. Results: Among the interviewed elderly, 40.8% said that they use the booklet, 48.5% affirm that they do not have knowledge about the book and 10.7% have the book but do not use it. In addition, 83.5% of the elderly are female and 78.6% with age between 60-70 years. The results show representations of positive content related the use of the book showing a good acceptance of this, besides recognizing it as a facilitator instrument for the care of the elderly defined in six categories. The elderly utilize the booklet as security and protection. The elderly people who do not use the book justify not using it due to lack of information. Conclusion Having the opportunity of knowing the elderly social representations about the health booklet for elderly was important to get to know and understand the thinking of the elderly in relation to the booklet and the significance of these representations. It is expected that this study will stimulate further research in the social representations in the ambit concerning the health booklet for elderly, in compliance with the National Health Policy for the Elderly. / Introdução: O envelhecimento populacional é uma realidade mundial, até mesmo nos países subdesenvolvidos, nunca se teve a chance de viver tanto. Com este novo quadro demográfico, surgiu a necessidade do desenvolvimento de dispositivos legais para nortear ações sociais e de saúde. Dentre eles, a Política Nacional de Saúde da Pessoa Idosa, marcada pelo paradigma da capacidade funcional, parametrizando assim, a Caderneta de Saúde da Pessoa Idosa, que representa um instrumento de delineamento do perfil dos idosos, identificando-os a partir da configuração de um estado de fragilização, colaborando com a formulação das ações de saúde focadas no envelhecimento com qualidade. Objetivo: Conhecer as representações sociais de idosos sobre a Caderneta de Saúde da Pessoa Idosa e suas influências na adesão pelos idosos no contexto da Atenção Básica. Metodologia: Trata-se de um estudo exploratório de abordagem qualitativa, realizado nas unidades do Distrito Sanitário V, com 103 idosos com idade igual ou superior a sessenta anos. A pesquisa ocorreu no período de julho a setembro de 2014, respeitando os critérios éticos da Resolução 466/12, em que os dados foram coletados a partir de uma entrevista semiestruturada contemplando questões relacionadas ao uso da caderneta de saúde pelos idosos. Os dados foram submetidos a dois tipos de análise: a primeira realizou-se a Técnica de Análise de Conteúdo Temática Categorial, apontou-se seis categorias: 1) Suporte para o atendimento; 2) Instrumento de orientação para o idoso; 3) Tipos de informações sobre a saúde; 4) Descrições de intercorrências de saúde; 5) Formas de acompanhamento da saúde do idoso; 6) Instrumento de segurança, responsáveis por duas dimensões das representações sociais: as informações ou conhecimentos dos idosos sobre a caderneta e o posicionamento ou atitude dos idosos frente à caderneta; na segunda análise, os dados foram estudados com o apoio do software Iramuteq 0.7, responsável pelas imagens ou campo de representação sobre a caderneta. Resultados: Dos idosos entrevistados, sendo 83,5% do sexo feminino e 78,6% com idade entre 60-70 anos, 40,8% disseram utilizar caderneta, 48,5% afirmam não conhecer e 10,7% possuem a caderneta, mas não a utilizam. Os resultados apontam representações de conteúdos positivos frente ao uso da caderneta, demonstrando uma boa aceitação desta, além de reconhecê-la como um instrumento facilitador para o atendimento da pessoa idosa, definido nas seis categorias. Ressalta-se ainda que os idosos representam a caderneta como segurança e proteção, bem como que aqueles que não a utilizam justificam o não uso por falta de informação. Conclusão: Conhecer as representações sociais dos idosos sobre a Caderneta de Saúde da Pessoa Idosa foi importante para se conhecer o que pensa esse segmento social sobre o instrumento e a importância destas na adesão para o fortalecimento de ações preconizadas na Política Nacional da Saúde da Pessoa Idosa.