Health needs: the interface between the discourse of health professionals and victimized women

Objective:

to understand the limits and the evaluative possibilities of the Family HealthStrategy regarding the recognition of the health needs of women who experienceviolence.

Method:

a study with a qualitative approach, grounded in the perspective of gender, andwhich adopted health needs as the analytical category. The data were collectedthrough interviews with health professionals and women who made use of a healthservice, and were analyzed using the method of discourse analysis.

Results:

the meeting between the discourses of women who use the services and theprofessionals of the health service revealed, as the interface, human needs, as inthe example of autonomy and of bonds. The understanding regarding the needs waslimited to the recognition of health problems of physical and psychologicalnatures, just as the predominance of the recognition of needs for maintaining lifein the light of essentially human needs was revealed in the professionals''discourses as an important limitation of the practices.

Conclusion:

emphasis is placed on the perspective of gender as a tool which must beaggregated to the routine of the professional practices in health so as to confirmor deny the transformative character of the care in place regarding therecognition and confronting of the women''s health needs.