title: Continuing education on child development for primary healthcare professionals: a prospective before-and-after study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Children's developmental disorders are often identified late by healthcare professionals working in primary care. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a continuing education program on child development, on the knowledge and practices of these professionals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective single-cohort study (before-and-after study), conducted in the city of Belém, Pará , Brazil.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred and twenty-one professionals working in primary healthcare (82.2%) participated in a continuing education program on child development and were assessed before and after implementation of the program through tests on their knowledge of child development, consisting of 19 questions for physicians and 14 for nurses, and questionnaires on their professional practices.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One to three years after the program, the mean number of correct answers in the tests had increased from 11.5 to 14.3 among physicians in the Healthy Family Program (Programa Família Saudável, PFS); 13.0 to 14.3 among physicians in Municipal Health Units (Unidades Municipais de Saúde, UMS); 8.3 to 10.0 among PFS nurses; and 7.8 to 9.4 among UMS nurses. In interviews with mothers attended by these professionals before the program, only 21.7% reported that they were asked about their children's development, 24.7% reported that the professional asked about or observed their children's development and 11.1% received advice on how to stimulate them. After the program, these percentages increased to 34.5%, 54.2% and 30.3%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Professionals who participated in the program showed improved performance regarding child development knowledge and practices.
authors: School of Medicine, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil.
authors: Amira Consuêlo Melo
authors: AC
authors: Figueiras
authors: Department of Pediatrics, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors: Rosana Fiorini
authors: RF
authors: Puccini
authors: Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors: Edina Mariko Koga
authors: EM
authors: Silva
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002983:Clinical Competence; D065187:Controlled Before-After Studies; D004496:Education, Continuing / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D009035:Mothers; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires