Social representations of nurses on the integral care available to women through Brazil's basic healthcare network

• Published in: Ciência & saude coletiva 2008-01, Vol.13 (1), p.61-70
• Main Authors: Reis, Cássia Barbosa, de Andrade, Sônia Maria Oliveira
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Subjects: Brazil; Community Networks; Delivery of Health Care, Integrated; Female; Humans; Nursing; Sociology; Women's Health Services
• ISSN: 1678-4561
• DOI: 10.1590/S1413-81232008000100011

Brazil's Basic Healthcare Act establishes the principle of integral care in terms of networking between services and professional practices, to which we add a dimension: the configuration of public policies. Nurses were selected for this survey as they handle the initial contacts with women and also because we believe they are endowed with an across-the-board view of integral care during the various phases in the lives of this population. This paper examines the social representations of nurses on the scope of the integral care available to women through Brazil's Basic Healthcare Network, explored through qualitative interviews with ten nurses in Mato Grosso do Sul State. These data were analyzed through the Collective Subject Discourse (CSD) approach, based on the Theory of Social Representations. The findings are presented in seven Collective Subject Discourses that describe the main ideas identified during the interviews. This leads to the conclusion that nurses have a fragmented view of women's healthcare, still guided by physical complaints; they cannot define integral care, repeating the discourse of the holistic approach without understanding what this really means; they work on an individualized basis, feeling that this area is not structured to offer integral care.