This article sought to evaluate the degree of implementation of primary health care (PHC) attributes as an indicator of the quality of care provided to children. We carried out a cross-sectional study in a middle-sized city in Minas Gerais State, Brazil. We interviewed 707 childcare workers who work with children aged 0 to 4 years (498 from the urban area and 209 from the rural area) and 22 professionals from the family health teams, using the Primary Care Assessment Tool, the Brazil criteria for socioeconomic classification and a questionnaire designed by the researchers. We calculated the PHC attribute scores based on opinions from users and professionals. Scores ≥ 6.6 were considered indicative of a high degree of attribute implementation. We used the Mann-Whitney test to compare results from the urban and rural areas. Professionals rated PHC services more highly than users. To professionals, the components with the highest scores were “information systems” and “family guidance” (both 8.9). To users, the components with the highest scores were “information systems” (7.8) and “use” (6.8) and those with the lowest scores were “care integration” (4.0) and “available services” (4.6). The scores of essential and general service attributes were higher in the rural area than in the urban area according to users, but not according to professionals. There are important divergences between evaluations from professionals and users. Rural-area services were better evaluated than those in the urban areas, despite the fact that PHC attributes have not been adequately implemented in the entire city, indicating that the quality of the care provided to children falls short of what is needed.
Keywords:
Primary Health Care; Delivery of Health Care; Quality of Health Care; Child; Health Services Research
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