African refugee families: Quality of life, needs and expectations regarding health

Abstract

Brazil is home to individuals from different countries in refuge situation, as defined by Law no. 9,474/1997 or by self-declaration. The Brazilian National Health System is available to refugees, but, despite this right, prejudice, misinformation, and difficulties in accessing these services are observed. The objective of this research is to measure their quality of life and to understand the needs and expectations of African refugee families in relation to health. The study was performed in two moments: a quantitative and a qualitative one. Participants responded to the WHOQOL-Bref quality of life scale. A sample family was extracted to compose the structural genogram and to participate in a semi-structured interview with a guiding question. The quantitative analysis was done by descriptive statistics and the discourses obtained were evaluated by the content analysis proposed by Laurence Bardin. Results showed, in the 0 to 100 parameter, a mean of 49.57, classifying the quality of life as “neither good, nor bad”. This result is consistent with the discourses of the interviewees, related to lack of employment and money. Regarding health, their evaluations do not differ from those of Brazilians: the service presents delays in care, lack of doctors and the health posts are far away. The prejudice suffered by some participants when being attended by the health services, related to being African, was also highlighted.