Objective:

To evaluate prevalence and factors associated with service user embracement by Primary Health Care teams in Brazil.

Methods:

This is a cross-sectional study that included teams that took part in the 2012 National Program for Primary Health Care Access and Quality Improvement (PMAQ-AB) (Cycle I). The outcome used was ‘user embracement by the health team’. The independent variables were macro-region, municipal profile, Gini index and Family Health Strategy population coverage, team meetings, study of spontaneous demand, consideration of user opinions and existence of continuing education. Multilevel Poisson regression analysis was performed.

Results:

The sample consisted of 13,751 teams. User embracement prevalence was 78.3% (95%CI 77.6;79.1). In the hierarchical analysis, the highest prevalence of user embracement was found among Southern region teams (PR=1.37 – 95%CI 1.27;1.48) taking the Northeast region as a reference.

Conclusion:

There is an uneven distribution of Primary Care teams practicing user embracement in Brazil, possibly associated with regional inequalities.

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