Procedures of measurement of the body mass in children by community health agents in Macaé, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2010-2011.

Objective: to describe the measurement process of the body mass in children under seven years old, assisted by community health agents in primary health care units of the Family Health Strategy, in Macaé-RJ, Brazil.

Methods: a descriptive study with community health agents who measured the body mass of children, from August 2010 to August 2011.

Results: ¾ (n=65) of the community health agents from Macaé Primary Health Care were observed in 196 measurements; in 66.8% of measurements, the professionals used domestic scales (p<0.001); 65.3% of the scales were put on uneven floor; the procedure 'undress the child' was followed in 18.4% of cases; of those, 72.2% were performed properly (p<0.001).

Conclusion: failures in the technical procedures of measurement were detected, pointing to the need to expand the reflection and discussion on the impact of the measurements, which help determine the nutritional diagnose of children.