Substance use disorders (SUDs) among pregnant and perinatal women continue to be a national public health crisis. Furthermore, nursing students and perinatal nurses have historically negative and punitive attitudes toward this vulnerable population of women. As nurses are primary care providers for pregnant and perinatal women, this is troublesome as perinatal patients express feeling stigmatized by nurses whom they should be able to trust. This contributes to the reluctance of women to seek needed medical and prenatal care. Tennessee was the first state to criminalize drug use in pregnancy and has higher neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) rates, which were more than 2 times the national average in 2017. The purpose of this descriptive cross-sectional non-experimental study was to examine how formal SUD nursing education, personal experiences, and participant characteristics predict attitudes and knowledge of nursing students and practicing perinatal nurses in Tennessee toward pregnant and perinatal women with an SUD. The sample consisted of 262 nursing students and 99 perinatal nurses across the west, middle, and eastern regions of Tennessee. A linear multiple regression showed that having a personal experience with a close friend with an SUD was predictive of improved knowledge scores of pregnant and perinatal SUDs. Independent samples t-tests were non-significant between formal SUD nursing education and attitudes and knowledge. Additionally, non-significant findings were seen between having a personal experience with a family member with an SUD and attitudes and knowledge. The findings suggest that Tennessee nursing education efforts were not influential in positively affecting attitudes and knowledge scores toward pregnant and perinatal women with an SUD. Future studies focused on exploring various educational interventions to promote knowledge, improve attitudes, and empathy in nursing populations toward pregnant and perinatal women with an SUD are warranted.

Background: A diet rich in vegetables, fruits, grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy, and proteins is known to have multiple beneficial health effects. However, a very limited number of studies have characterized food group intake and its association with cardiometabolic risk factors in Hispanic children. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to 1) assess food group intake in a sample of Hispanic children; and 2) examine the association between food group intake and overweight and elevated blood pressure in the same population. Methods: Data came from a pilot study of metabolic syndrome in Hispanic children. The study sample consisted of 116 2-to-10-year-old children receiving well-child care at a community health center in Johnson City, TN, from June 2015 to June 2016. Blood pressure, height and weight were measured using standard protocols. Food group intake was ascertained using the Block Kids Food Screener, a validated instrument. Child’s age, sex, and mother’s educational attainment were included as covariates. Binomial test of proportions was used to compare the study sample with the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) gender-age group proportions not meeting recommended daily food group intake. Two sample t-test was used to examine differences in mean food intake by outcome variables of elevated blood pressure (>=90th percentile for age and sex) and being overweight (>85th percentile of the 2000 CDC growth charts). Multiple logistic regression was used to examine the association between food group intake and elevated blood pressure and being overweight while accounting for child's sex, age, and mother's educational attainment. Results: Hispanic children exceeded minimum fruit and legume national recommendations. Compared with the corresponding NHANES gender-age groups, a larger proportion of the sample met legume recommendations. However, similar proportions met fruit, vegetable, wholegrain, fiber and dairy recommendations. Children with elevated blood pressure ate less fruits, vegetables, and legumes than children with normal blood pressure. Legume intake (OR: 0.052, 95% CI: 0.04-0.64), dairy intake (OR: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.37-0.99), and fiber intake (OR: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.81-0.96) were protective against elevated blood pressure. In contrast, only fruit intake was protective against overweight (OR: 0.93, 95% CI: 0.87-0.99). Conclusion: Public health nutrition programs aimed at reducing the prevalence of overweight and elevated blood pressure in Hispanic children should consider supporting the intake of legumes, dairy, and fiber (for decreasing elevated blood pressure), and fruits (for reducing overweight).

Maternal obesity, physical inactivity, and negative perceptions of neighborhoods have been identified as obesogenic factors in older children; however, no study has explored this relationship in young Hispanic children. Furthermore, the relation between obesogenic maternal factors and blood pressure in Hispanic children has not been examined. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the association between Hispanic mother’s physical activity (PA) levels, body mass index (BMI), and PA-related perceptions of neighborhoods and their children’s PA, TV screen time, blood pressure (BP), and BMI. Methods: Data of 118 mother-child dyads enrolled in a cross-sectional study of metabolic syndrome in Hispanic children at a community health center in Johnson City, TN were used. Parent and child questionnaires were used to ascertain mother’s BMI, PA, perception of the safety and availability of PA amenities in their children’s neighborhoods, satisfaction with their children’s neighborhoods as a place to bring up children, and children’s PA and TV screen time. Children’s height, weight, and BP were measured. Multiple logistic regression was used to examine the association between child and maternal variables, adjusting for mother’s education and the child’s sex and age. Results: Children of obese mothers were more likely than children of mothers with normal BMI to engage in less than three days of at least 60 minutes of vigorous PA per week (OR: 6.47: 95% CI: 1.61-26.0). Children whose mothers did not engage in moderate PA were more likely to engage in less than three days of at least 60 minutes of vigorous PA per week (OR: 2.92, CI: 1.18-7.24); and have elevated BP (OR: 2.50, 95% CI: 1.02-4.53) than children whose mothers engaged in moderate PA. Conclusion: Our results suggest the need for interventions to help Hispanic mothers model physical activity and achieve and maintain healthy weight; if successful, these strategies could potentially influence their children’s blood pressure and physical activity levels.

Infants need to develop effective, secure attachment to their primary caregivers in the first year of life. Researchers have not been able to identify all the factors that may influence the development of infant attachment. Most of the studies in this area have been done without regard to infant feeding as a potential factor. Maternal responsiveness appears to be key in the child's development of secure attachment behaviors, yet even after decades of research on infant attachment and maternal responsiveness, there is little evidence available to assist with early identification of families at risk and few interventions known to be effective in promoting maternal responsiveness.The research questions for this study were: 1) Do mothers who exclusively breastfed their infants for at least 6 weeks report more maternal responsiveness behaviors 2-4 months after delivery compared to mothers who exclusively formula feed their infants? 2) How well does breastfeeding duration predict self-reported maternal responsiveness at 2-4 months once socio-demographics and maternal characteristics (i.e., self-esteem, satisfaction with life) are statistically controlled?A cross-sectional survey design was used to assess the variables of maternal responsiveness, feeding patterns, and maternal characteristics in a convenience sample of 200 mothers in the first 2-4 months after delivery. The 60-item instrument included scales to measure maternal responsiveness (MIRI: Amankwaa et al., 2002), self-esteem (RSE: Rosenberg, 1965), and satisfaction with life (SWLS: Diener et al., 1985) as well as infant feeding and socio-demographic questions. A mixed mode data collection strategy was used combining Internet data collection with traditional paper-and-pencil survey methods.Somewhat surprisingly, mothers who exclusively breastfed for at least 6 weeks did not report any more maternal responsiveness behaviors compared to mothers who formula fed their infants. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that satisfaction with life, self-esteem, and parity, but not breastfeeding, explained a significant portion of the variance in self-reported maternal responsiveness scores. Further research in this area is needed. It should be noted that this is one of few studies of maternal responsiveness using a self-report instrument and may also be the first study of maternal responsiveness using Internet data collection.

Os recém-nascidos de muito baixo peso ao nascer alcançam taxas de sobrevivência cada vez maiores. No entanto, eles ainda apresentam problemas como déficit de crescimento, atrasos do desenvolvimento, baixa prevalência de aleitamento materno exclusivo e dificuldades de vinculação afetiva com a família. Essa problemática resulta da condição de nascimento dessas crianças, das conseqüências do tratamento intensivo necessário à sua sobrevivência, e das peculiaridades da assistência neonatal tradicional cujos procedimentos impõem a separação entre a mãe e o bebê. A observação de aspectos relativos aos problemas citados sinaliza que algumas dessas dificuldades poderiam ser atenuadas, quando não resolvidas, por um modelo de assistência neonatal que privilegiasse a interação entre a mãe e o bebê. Visando a elucidar tal questão, compararam-se os resultados obtidos com setenta bebês, divididos em dois grupos, um assistido pelo método Mãe-canguru e outro pelo método Tradicional de assistência neonatal. Foi realizado um estudo de coorte prospectivo que contemplou duas abordagens: uma análise epidemiológica dos dados objetivos referentes às características comparáveis entre os dois grupos, ou seja, atributos maternos, dados sobre a gestação, o parto e o nascimento, eventos da evolução clínica, parâmetros do crescimento e do desenvolvimento e marcos do processo de aleitamento materno; além da outra abordagem que se constituiu como uma análise compreensiva dos dados subjetivos através do método fenomenológico. Constatou-se que o crescimento das crianças estudadas manteve-se aquém da referência ideal preconizada, a saber, o crescimento intra-uterino, sendo que as medidas antropométricas mostraram-se menores entre as crianças do método Canguru. As diferenças encontradas entre os dois métodos quanto ao desenvolvimento neurossocial não foram estatisticamente significativas. O método Canguru favoreceu a prática de aleitamento materno exclusivo, mesmo após a alta hospitalar. A compreensão e a interpretação dos depoimentos das mães, através do método fenomenológico, permitiram que se vislumbrassem as repercussões dessa situação sobre a função materna, e as suas conseqüências sobre o desenvolvimento e a prevalência do aleitamento materno. Deslindou-se, assim, a influência direta da qualidade da interação entre a mãe e o bebê sobre a experiência de se tornar mãe nessas circunstâncias. Nessa perspectiva, concluiu-se que o cuidado dispensado a recém-nascidos de muito baixo peso ao nascer exige, além do emprego da alta tecnologia, a priorização da permanência da mãe junto ao filho e a aptidão da equipe de assistência neonatal para abordar o bebê e a mãe em conjunto, como componentes de um sistema que se distinguem entre si, mas não se separam. / Very low birthweight infants have achieved increasing survival rates over time. However, they still suffer from problems such as growth deficit, developmental delays, low exclusive breastfeeding prevalence and difficulties with the bond formation process. These problems result from birth circumstances, consequences of survival-necessary intensive care and peculiarities of traditional neonatal care, whose procedures impose a prolonged separation between mother and baby. Observation of aspects relative to these problems indicates that some of those difficulties might be lessened, if not altogether solved, by a neonatal care model that favors the mother-child interaction. Aiming to clarify this matter, a comparison of results obtained for seventy babies was carried out. Infants were divided in two groups, one treated by means of the Kangaroo Mother Method and the other by means of the Traditional Neonatal Care Method. A prospective cohort study was carried out which included two approaches. The first approach was an epidemiological analysis of objective data concerning comparable characteristics of the two groups, such as maternal characteristics, data about pregnancy, labor and birth, clinical evolution events, developmental and growth parameters and landmarks of the breastfeeding process. The second approach was a comprehensive study of subjective data by means of the Phenomenological Method. It was found that growth of studied children was consistently below intrauterine growth, the established ideal. Antropometrical measures were smaller for children in the Kangaroo Mother Method group than for those treated by means of the Traditional Method. No statistically meaningful differences were found concerning neurosocial development. The Kangaroo Mother Method was found to favor the practice of exclusive breastfeeding even after child discharge. Phenomenological comprehension and interpretation of oral accounts given by the mothers of studied infants about their experiences with their preterm children revealed the repercussions of this situation on maternal function and the resulting consequences to development and breastfeeding prevalence. The direct influence that the quality of interaction between mother and baby has on the experience of becoming a mother under such circumstances was thereby unveiled. Under this perspective, it was concluded that care given to very low birthweight infants requires, in addition to the employment of high technology, that the staying of mothers beside their infants be prioritized and that the neonatal care team be made able to handle mother and infant as a compound unit, as two components of a system that are distinct, yet not separate.

As características e conceitos dos sistemas complexos adaptativos (SCA) e a dinâmica de sistemas podem ser utilizados como ferramentas altamente efetivas para analisar a organização de um sistema de saúde. Várias das propriedades dos SCA são relevantes para este propósito especialmente a emergência de padrões auto-organizativos. Os objetivos são descrever os fluxos intermunicipais de gestantes para a resolução da gravidez visando compreender os fatores que influenciam estes deslocamentos considerando os recursos hierárquicos disponíveis e propor modelos explicativos da regionalização ao cuidado ligado à gravidez e ao parto e à regulação do sistema. Esta pesquisa aplicou conceitos de sistemas complexos adaptativos para estudo dos fluxos de gestantes entre municípios no sistema de atenção ao parto e puerpério na região de Ribeirão Preto- São Paulo determinando as áreas de captação de pacientes e fatores que influenciam deslocamentos. Para isto foram construídas matrizes de origem-destino das gestantes que tiveram a resolução da gravidez na área do Departamento Regional de Saúde XIII (DRS XIII) sediado em Ribeirão Preto no ano de 2012. Foram utilizadas ferramentas ligadas ao fluxo de altas disponíveis no Observatório Regional de Atenção Hospitalar, aplicando modelos de interação espacial e análise de redes para determinar a suficiência das regiões e sub-regiões para a realização dos procedimentos selecionados e explorar os fatores determinantes dos deslocamentos de pacientes. Em 2012, os hospitais de Ribeirão Preto (sede da DRS XIII) receberam 3807 internações por parto de fora do município, das quais 597 foram provenientes de 114 municípios fora da jurisdição do DRS XIII. Observou-se que 25 % das pacientes se deslocaram a outro município para a resolução da gravidez, percorrendo uma distancia média ponderada de 27 km. Os fluxos de pacientes mostram uma alta concentração em Ribeirão Preto e Sertãozinho, embora grande parte dos casos derivados não requeriam serviços de alta complexidade. O DRS XIIII é suficiente como região para a resolução destes casos e se comporta como um importador de pacientes de uma região mais ampla que compreende ao menos 60 municípios. Vários municípios do DRS XIII também têm serviços suficientes para as necessidades de sua população. O sistema de regulação do estado e do DRS XIII e as preferências dos pacientes, famílias e médicos são determinantes mais importantes dos fluxos que as distancias geográficas. A evolução da demografia e epidemiologia, da geografia política e organizacional do SUS, da oferta de serviços e os comportamentos e preferências dos agentes (usuários, médicos e outros) devem ser analisadas em conjunto como sistemas dinâmicos para compreensão dos fluxos de pacientes e assim reformular as redes de serviços para responder melhor às necessidades da assistência materna e puerperal na região coberta pelo DRS III. / The characteristics and concepts of complex adaptive systems (CAS) and system dynamics can be used as highly effective tools to analyze the organization of a health system. Several of the properties of an CAS are relevant to this purpose, especially the emergence of self-organizing patterns. Objectives: To describe the intermunicipal flows of pregnant women at the end of the pregnancy, in order to understand the factors that influence these displacements considering the available hierarchical resources and propose explanatory models of the regionalization of care related to pregnancy, delivery and regulation of the system. This research applied concepts of complex adaptive systems to study the flows of pregnant women among municipalities in the maternal care system in the Ribeirão Preto - São Paulo region, determining the catchment areas of patients and analyzing the factors that influence their displacement. For this purpose, the research gathered origin-destination matrices of the pregnant women who had the pregnancy resolution in the area of the Regional Health Department XIII (DRS XIII), based in Ribeirão Preto, for the year 2012. The tools used for these matrices were built in the discharge-flow utility available at the Hospital Regional Observatory webpage. Using spatial interaction models and network analysis it was possible to determine the sufficiency of regions and sub-regions to perform the selected procedures and to explore the determinants of patient travel. In 2012, maternity hospitals in Ribeirão Preto (headquarters of DRS XIII) received 3807 hospitalizations related to deliveries coming from outside the municipality, of which 597 came from 114 municipalities outside the jurisdiction of DRS XIII. It was observed that 25% of the patients moved to another municipality for the events related to the end of the pregnancy, traveling a weighted average distance of 27 km. Patient flows show a high concentration in Ribeirão Preto and Sertãozinho, although a majority of the derived cases did not require services of high complexity. DRS XIIII is sufficient as a region to resolve these cases and behaves as an net importer of patients from a wider region comprising at least 60 municipalities. Several municipalities of DRS XIII also have sufficient services for the needs of their population. The system of regulation of the state and DRS XIII and the preferences of patients, families and doctors are more important determinants of flows than geographical distances. The evolution of demography and epidemiology, the political and organizational geography of the SUS, the service offerings and the behaviors and preferences of the agents (users, doctors and others) should be analyzed together as dynamic systems for understanding patient flows allowing to redesign the service networks to better respond to the needs of maternal and child care in the region covered by DRS XIII.

Os recém-nascidos de muito baixo peso ao nascer alcançam taxas de sobrevivência cada vez maiores. No entanto, eles ainda apresentam problemas como déficit de crescimento, atrasos do desenvolvimento, baixa prevalência de aleitamento materno exclusivo e dificuldades de vinculação afetiva com a família. Essa problemática resulta da condição de nascimento dessas crianças, das conseqüências do tratamento intensivo necessário à sua sobrevivência, e das peculiaridades da assistência neonatal tradicional cujos procedimentos impõem a separação entre a mãe e o bebê. A observação de aspectos relativos aos problemas citados sinaliza que algumas dessas dificuldades poderiam ser atenuadas, quando não resolvidas, por um modelo de assistência neonatal que privilegiasse a interação entre a mãe e o bebê. Visando a elucidar tal questão, compararam-se os resultados obtidos com setenta bebês, divididos em dois grupos, um assistido pelo método Mãe-canguru e outro pelo método Tradicional de assistência neonatal. Foi realizado um estudo de coorte prospectivo que contemplou duas abordagens: uma análise epidemiológica dos dados objetivos referentes às características comparáveis entre os dois grupos, ou seja, atributos maternos, dados sobre a gestação, o parto e o nascimento, eventos da evolução clínica, parâmetros do crescimento e do desenvolvimento e marcos do processo de aleitamento materno; além da outra abordagem que se constituiu como uma análise compreensiva dos dados subjetivos através do método fenomenológico. Constatou-se que o crescimento das crianças estudadas manteve-se aquém da referência ideal preconizada, a saber, o crescimento intra-uterino, sendo que as medidas antropométricas mostraram-se menores entre as crianças do método Canguru. As diferenças encontradas entre os dois métodos quanto ao desenvolvimento neurossocial não foram estatisticamente significativas. O método Canguru favoreceu a prática de aleitamento materno exclusivo, mesmo após a alta hospitalar. A compreensão e a interpretação dos depoimentos das mães, através do método fenomenológico, permitiram que se vislumbrassem as repercussões dessa situação sobre a função materna, e as suas conseqüências sobre o desenvolvimento e a prevalência do aleitamento materno. Deslindou-se, assim, a influência direta da qualidade da interação entre a mãe e o bebê sobre a experiência de se tornar mãe nessas circunstâncias. Nessa perspectiva, concluiu-se que o cuidado dispensado a recém-nascidos de muito baixo peso ao nascer exige, além do emprego da alta tecnologia, a priorização da permanência da mãe junto ao filho e a aptidão da equipe de assistência neonatal para abordar o bebê e a mãe em conjunto, como componentes de um sistema que se distinguem entre si, mas não se separam. / Very low birthweight infants have achieved increasing survival rates over time. However, they still suffer from problems such as growth deficit, developmental delays, low exclusive breastfeeding prevalence and difficulties with the bond formation process. These problems result from birth circumstances, consequences of survival-necessary intensive care and peculiarities of traditional neonatal care, whose procedures impose a prolonged separation between mother and baby. Observation of aspects relative to these problems indicates that some of those difficulties might be lessened, if not altogether solved, by a neonatal care model that favors the mother-child interaction. Aiming to clarify this matter, a comparison of results obtained for seventy babies was carried out. Infants were divided in two groups, one treated by means of the Kangaroo Mother Method and the other by means of the Traditional Neonatal Care Method. A prospective cohort study was carried out which included two approaches. The first approach was an epidemiological analysis of objective data concerning comparable characteristics of the two groups, such as maternal characteristics, data about pregnancy, labor and birth, clinical evolution events, developmental and growth parameters and landmarks of the breastfeeding process. The second approach was a comprehensive study of subjective data by means of the Phenomenological Method. It was found that growth of studied children was consistently below intrauterine growth, the established ideal. Antropometrical measures were smaller for children in the Kangaroo Mother Method group than for those treated by means of the Traditional Method. No statistically meaningful differences were found concerning neurosocial development. The Kangaroo Mother Method was found to favor the practice of exclusive breastfeeding even after child discharge. Phenomenological comprehension and interpretation of oral accounts given by the mothers of studied infants about their experiences with their preterm children revealed the repercussions of this situation on maternal function and the resulting consequences to development and breastfeeding prevalence. The direct influence that the quality of interaction between mother and baby has on the experience of becoming a mother under such circumstances was thereby unveiled. Under this perspective, it was concluded that care given to very low birthweight infants requires, in addition to the employment of high technology, that the staying of mothers beside their infants be prioritized and that the neonatal care team be made able to handle mother and infant as a compound unit, as two components of a system that are distinct, yet not separate.

This institutional ethnography relies on observations, interviews, and textual analyses to explore the experiences of mothers and children who attend a women-centered agency in Vancouver, Canada where a hot lunch, child care in the emergency daycare, and participation in group activities are vital forms of support. Mothers who come to the centre have many concerns related to their need for safe housing, a sustainable income, adequate food, child care, and support. And like mothers anywhere, they have concerns about their children. While many of the children, the majority of them First Nations, have never had a diagnostic assessment for fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) or for the relatively new umbrella category, ‘fetal alcohol spectrum disorder’ (FASD), a number of the mothers were concerned or even knew that their children had FAS. This thesis asks – how does it happen that mothers have come to know their children in this way? The study critically examines how FASD knowledge and practices actually work in the setting and what they accomplish. My analysis traces how ruling practices for constructing and managing ‘problem’ mothers and children coordinate work activities for identifying children deemed to be ‘at risk’ for FASD. In their efforts to help their children and improve their opportunities for a better life, mothers become willing participants in group activities where they learn how to attach the relevancies of the FASD discourse to their children’s bodies or behaviours. They also gain instruction which helps them to confess their responsibility for children’s problems. While maternal alcohol use as the cause of FASD is contested in literature and in some work sites it is, in this setting, taken as a fact. This study discovers how institutional work processes involving government, medicine, and education actually shape and re-write women’s and children’s experiences into forms of knowledge that make mothers and children institutionally actionable. It is only by exposing the relations of power organizing mothers’ work that it may be possible to re-direct attention to mothers’ and children’s embodied concerns and relieve mothers of the overwhelming responsibility for which they are held and hold themselves to be accountable. / Graduate

Diss. Linköping : Univ.

Submitted by Paulo Junior (paulo.jr@fgv.br) on 2010-11-23T19:58:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 JOÃO A. ROBALINHO.pdf: 1434074 bytes, checksum: 605367616252bca17032d84fdf6bbf27 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Paulo Junior(paulo.jr@fgv.br) on 2010-11-23T19:58:52Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 JOÃO A. ROBALINHO.pdf: 1434074 bytes, checksum: 605367616252bca17032d84fdf6bbf27 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2010-11-29T11:45:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JOÃO A. ROBALINHO.pdf: 1434074 bytes, checksum: 605367616252bca17032d84fdf6bbf27 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-05-12 / The current work concerns the performance of municipal health systems, focusing on maternal/child healthcare. With the aim of identifying possible weaknesses in health systems, specifically those in which Primary Attention (PA) is the main or exclusive strategy of municipal administration activity, the theoretic model of health indicators named ADS, was created. Applied in cities with populations between 14,000 and 35,000 inhabitants, where the health system is exclusively based on PA policy, this model was constructed using the consensus technique, with the formation of a group of 12 specialists in the area of collective health to define and validate the criteria for analysis of the systems. Tested in the town of Itai, located in the Meridian hinterland, 282 kilometers from the capital of Pernambuco, the ADS indicated below average environmental and socio-economic factors, besides vulnerabilities in maternal/child healthcare which negatively influenced the condition of health in the municipality. The evaluation further verified unsatisfactory performance in terms of child and pre-natal accompaniment through medical appointments (effectiveness); child assistance (continuity); appointment realization for children and pre-natal immunization for mothers (access to Primary Attention services); productivity of the actions performed by health professionals (efficiency) and capacity to investigate infant mortality, quality of registers and pre-natal control of syphilis (health vigilance). A low level of investment in healthcare was also observed, combined with inadequate human resources and material to provide services. At the end of the research, it was possible to identify the viability of the models application in planning / O presente trabalho aborda o desempenho dos sistemas municipais de saúde, tendo como foco a saúde materno-infantil. Com o objetivo de apontar as possíveis fragilidades dos sistemas de saúde, especificamente daqueles em que a Atenção Primária (AP) é a principal ou exclusiva estratégia de atuação da gestão municipal, foi criado um modelo teórico de avaliação dos indicadores de saúde, denominado de ADS. Aplicado às cidades com população entre 14 mil e 35 mil habitantes, onde o sistema de saúde se baseia exclusivamente na política de AP, esse modelo foi construído por meio da técnica de consenso, com a formação de um grupo de 12 especialistas na área de saúde coletiva para definição e validação de critérios para análise dos sistemas. Testado na cidade de Iati, localizada no Agreste Meridional e distante 282 quilômetros da capital pernambucana, o ADS apontou fatores ambientais e socioeconômicos abaixo da média, além de vulnerabilidades da assistência materno-infantil que influenciam negativamente a situação de saúde do município. A avaliação verificou ainda desempenho insatisfatório no que diz respeito ao acompanhamento das crianças e gestantes por meio de consultas médicas (efetividade); assistência à criança (continuidade); cobertura de consultas em crianças e imunização de gestantes (acesso aos serviços da Atenção Primária); produtividade das ações realizadas pelos profissionais de saúde (eficiência) e capacidade de investigação dos óbitos infantis, qualidade dos registros e controle da sífilis em gestantes (vigilância à saúde). Também foi observada baixa alocação de investimentos em saúde em combinação com a carência de recursos humanos e materiais para prestar os serviços. Ao final da pesquisa, foi possível constatar a viabilidade de aplicação do modelo para planejamento das auditorias, avaliando o desempenho dos indicadores de saúde no âmbito municipal.