title: [Caring for the health of young children in the family context: an ethnographic study of low income families].
abstract: This study examines ways of caring for the health of small children in families assisted by the Family Health Program in a low-income outlying district of Salvador over a period of nine months. Based on participant observations supplemented by semi-structured interviews, the ethnographic approach offers a close-up view of how the respondents understand childcare and its links to the social and cultural context. Childcare requirements are arrayed along three main axes, structured on the basis of the child's gender: preservation of integrity, ability to play and education. Practices related to healthcare express evaluations and decisions that take into consideration the constraints imposed by reality and different standpoints, with the medical view occupying an important but not preponderant - position. Finally, the inter-subjective character of childcare is examined, in the sense that adults obtain moral gratification through caring for children, striving to meet their needs.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Saúde Coletiva, UFBA, Salvador, BA. vaniabus@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Vania
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bustamante
authors.forename: Leny A Bomfim
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Trad
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D002648:Child; D002654:Child Care / Q000592:standards; D002668:Child Rearing; D002669:Child Welfare; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D004032:Diet; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011203:Poverty