Practical dimension of the community health agents' social representations about domestic violence against women

Abstract

Objective: To understand the practical dimension of the social representations of community health agents about domestic violence against women. Methodology: This is a research study with a qualitative approach grounded on the Theory of Social Representations and carried out in Family Health Units in a municipality from the inland of Bahia, with participation of 30 community health agents. Data production took place through the technique of indepth interviews and lexical analysis; the IRAMUTEQ (Interface de R pourles Analyzes Multidimensionales de Textes et de Questionnaires) software was used and the data were processed by means of the Descending Hierarchical Classification method. Results: It was revealed that the care practices for women in situations of domestic violence are based on the technical dimension through home visits; on the relational dimension anchored in listening, bonding and trust; and on the guidance dimension by the ability to establish an information exchange and management process. They presented conceptions about services and professionals that comprise the care network for women in situations of violence, revealing weaknesses at work that hinder development of actions. Final considerations: It is understood that community health agents are important professionals in the prevention, identification and confrontation of domestic violence against women and need multiprofessional and intersectoral support to meet the demands of these women.