ABSTRACT
The objective of the study was to describe and analyze the social and clinical profile of Children with Special Health Needs hospitalized in the pediatric wards of a maternal-infant hospital in the Federal District. This is a cross-sectional, quantitative survey carried out with 120 children and their family members/main caregivers. A structured questionnaire with 26 items was used, which later went through a descriptive and inferential analysis of the data. The results point to the mother as the main family member/caregiver (92.5%), with a medium level of education (58.3%). The children were mostly male (63%), with congenital malformations, deformities, and chromosomal anomalies (29.1%). There was a positive correlation between family/caregiver education and need for hospitalization in the Intensive Care Unit (P-Value<0.01) and the number of hospitalizations in the last 12 months with technological care demands (P-Value<.01). Thus, the social vulnerability of families and the need for health education strategies focused on the demands of technological care were also identified.
KEYWORDS
Health profile; Child health; Children with disabilities; Caregivers; Pediatric nursing