Inequalities in the receipt of healthcare practitioner counseling for adults after COVID-19 in southern Brazil

• Published in: BMC public health 2023-06, Vol.23 (1), p.1101-1101, Article 1101
• Main Authors: Rocha, Juliana Quadros Santos, Dutra, Rinelly Pazinato, Vieira, Yohana Pereira, Duro, Suele Manjourany Silva, de Oliveira Saes, Mirelle
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Analysis; Brazil; Brazil - epidemiology; Chi-square test; Counseling; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 vaccines; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data collection; Disease prevention; Disease transmission; Disparities in health levels; Economic aspects; Education; Epidemics; Health behavior; Health care; Health Equity; Health policy; Health promotion; Health services; Health Status Disparities; Health surveillance; Humans; Hygiene; Immunization; Income; Income distribution; Inequality; Infections; Lifestyles; Marital status; Medical personnel; Pandemics; Prevalence; Public health; Questionnaires; Robustness (mathematics); Services; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Sleep; Social aspects; Social distancing; Socioeconomic Factors; Socioeconomics
• ISSN: 1471-2458; 1471-2458
• DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-15914-2

Health counseling is a prevention and health promotion action, especially in the context of a pandemic, for both preventing disease and maintaining health. Inequalities may affect receipt of health counseling. The aim was to provide an overview of the prevalence of receiving counseling and to analyze income inequality in the receipt of health counseling. This was a cross-sectional telephone survey study with individuals aged 18 years or older with diagnosis of symptomatic COVID-19 using RT-PCR testing between December 2020 and March 2021. They were asked about receipt of health counseling. Inequalities were assessed using the Slope Index of Inequality (SII) and Concentration Index (CIX) measures. We used the Chi-square test to assess the distribution of outcomes according to income. Adjusted analyses were performed using Poisson regression with robust variance adjustment. A total of 2919 individuals were interviewed. Low prevalence of health counseling by healthcare practitioner was found. Participants with higher incomes were 30% more likely to receive more counseling. These results serve as a basis for aggregating public health promotion policies, in addition to reinforcing health counseling as a multidisciplinary team mission to promote greater health equity.