OBJECTIVES: identify and analyze anemia knowledge and practices of daycare center providers. METHODS: study performed in a public daycare center for low income families living in the outskirts of the city of São Paulo. The majority of the children was seen in the health clinic of the daycare center for over six months and came from low income families. All 15 care providers were high school graduates. The interviews were taped, transcribed and submitted to content analysis. RESULTS: care providers'knowledge and practices stemmed from common sense and day to day experience. Many had wrong concepts with potential harm in terms of care provision. Their perception was that anemia control and prevention depended on "parents education", a perspective that could interfere with the care providers/parents relationship in a sense that the problems are of a social nature and do not depend exclusively on family care. Some identified anemic children and attempted to help but the majority transferred the responsibility to healthcare professionals and did not feel they were related to care giving practices and conditions. CONCLUSIONS: there is a need to educate care providers on anemia and the care of this condition, not only in initial training programs as well as in ongoing training programs.
Anemia; Child day care centers; Child care
