ABSTRACT
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Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Adult , Middle Aged , Job Satisfaction , Primary Health Care/methods , Primary Health Care/trends , Delivery of Health Care/methods , Primary Health Care/statistics & numerical data , Primary Health Care/standards , Primary Health Care , Socioeconomic SurveyABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Given the great importance given at present to determining anthropometric measurements as an indicator of child health, and its general use in primary care, this study aimed to find how reliable the measurements by four nurses at a health centre were. The measurements' internal concordance, and thus the weight of the observer on the values found, was studied. DESIGN: Analytical study of validation of infants' anthropometric measurements. SETTING: Urban Health Centre, Valencia. PARTICIPANTS: 37 children, selected at random by a draw from those attending the programme for overseeing child development. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Four nurses, using the methods of measurement normally followed at the Virgen de la Fuensanta Health Centre, consecutively determined weight, height and cephalic perimeter of the children. The analyses of variance of the anthropometric measurements for the observer showed no statistically significant differences. The calculation of the greatest discrepancy between observers regarding the mean of the values displayed no quantitatively important discrepancies, either. CONCLUSIONS: High consistency was found in the concordance of the somatometric measurements, as far as technique goes. This means that trained staff can find good indicators of child development and health, even when the staff taking the measurements alternate.
