Descriptions of perceived quality of life of residents from a quilombo in north Brazil

Abstract

Introduction: The Quilombos inherently have the characteristic of resistance against the slave system, as their domination was linked to the idea of fugitive blacks and territorialization of free areas, they are usually an isolated community that tries to preserve the traditions, memories, and culture of its people. Objetive: The study aimed to describe the perceptions regarding the quality of life of Quilombola community in the municipality of Santa Tereza, Tocantins, Brazil. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with children in the Quilombola community. To evaluate the children's quality of life, the questionnaire named Vie Enfant Imagé's Autoquestionnaire Qualité was used, composed of four factors: Autonomy, Leisure, Function, and Family. To evaluate the quality of life in adults, the World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment was used. The program used was Stata version 11.0. Results: Regarding the quality of life of the children according to gender, the girls presented a mean of 11.0 in the Function factor, in the Family, Leisure, and Autonomy factor, presented with a mean of 12.3, 8.2 and 4.8, respectively. For boys, the Function factor had a mean of 11.0, the Family factor of 12.0, and the Leisure and Autonomy factors of 7.6 and 5.6, in this sequence. Among the adults, the men had lower values in the Physical domain with a mean of 13.7, the women had lower averages in the Physical and Environmental domains, with values equal to 13.8. In the general scores, the male sex obtained higher value when compared to the female sex, 14.0 and 13.6, respectively. Conclusion: The study showed that among the children, the Family factor had higher mean values, followed by the Function, Leisure, and Autonomy factors, respectively. When studying adults, the domain with the best score was Social Relations, on the other hand, the Physical domain presented the worst score for men and women. However, investigations carried out regarding the quality of life in quilombolas represent a still low number, making it difficult to understand the possibilities of improving the quality of life in this population.