Facing a new reality from the Zika virus congenital syndrome: The families’ perspective

Abstract

This paper presents the partial results of the research on the social implications of address-ing the Zika Virus Congenital Syndrome (ZVCS). This study aimed to analyze the repercussions of the diagnosis on the life of the families attended at an Institute of reference in Rio de Janeiro, based on a qualitative study built on the thematic analysis of the data collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 mothers from October 2017 to June 2018. The results revealed the helplessness of families and health professionals faced with the revelation of an unprecedented and challenging diagnosis, the lack of a structured referral and counter-referral network in the care of children when newly diagnosed, the imposition of an ex-haustive care routine, generating social isolation, exhaustion and overload of these women, and the difficult access to public policies. Among the pri-mary resources to cope with these adversities were the religiosity and articulation with other women who experienced the same situation.