Abstract
The objectives of this study were: 1) identify socio-demographic and health characteristics of basic health unit’s users in Itajubá -MG; 2) Evaluate their capacity for self-care and 3) relate the socio-demographic and health characteristics with self-care competencies. It is a study of quantitative approach, descriptive and transversal type. The sample was made up of 228 people residing in Itajubá. The sampling was not probabilistic type for convenience. The two instruments used were: 1) Socio-demographic and health characterization and 2) Scale to evaluate the Self-care capabilities (ASA-A). On a scale of 24 to 120 points, the evaluation of self-care capabilities of the participants surveyed through the ASA-A, reached M=89.28 points and DP=12.52. By correlating the various socio-demographic variables and health with ASA-A, it was found a significant and positive correlation with: "age" (r=0,5; p=0.025); "its health in comparison with last year" (r=0,4; p=0.046); "participation in health programs" (r=0,5; p=0.001); "intake of medicines" (r=0,5; p=0.038) and "working out" (r=0,6; p=0.001). It was concluded that the capabilities of self-care parameter was "very good" and was correlated with a number of socio-demographic and health variables.