Os parâmetros do trabalho de assistentes sociais na atenção domiciliar

Abstract

This paper presented to PUCRS Postgraduate Program investigated the role of social workers in the health field, more precisely in the socio-occupational space of home care, which is a peculiar modality where assistance occurs within patients' homes. This care model imposes great challenges due to such complexity, storylines and particularities presented since it must be shared with patients, family members, caregivers, and interdisciplinary teams. In this way, seeking to understand the role of social workers in home care in Brazil during 2022 and 2023, qualitative research was carried out, guided by the theoretical framework of the critical dialectical method, with professionals who work in this segment (social workers, interdisciplinary team specialists and managers). The main objective of the study was to indicate the parameters which outline the work of Social Services around home health in Brazil to contribute to the instrumentalization, valorization and visibility of this category. Furthermore, it sought to relate the social worker's interventions with the dimensions of the profession, identify the skills, duties and challenges faced, reveal the obstacles and possibilities encountered by the professional in the face of interdisciplinary teams, in addition to understanding the reason of the reduced inclusion of the category in this space. To this end, the “snowball” technique was used to conduct online interviews and, subsequently, a focus group with new data collection and feedback on the results found. Thus, the information collected was studied from the perspective of content analysis, which allowed deep entry into the work of social workers in this domain, in a reflective, critical, and constructive way. The assessment of reports from professionals who work in home care highlighted how challenging this field is as it presents significant nuances, with different needs, with interaction and involvement of many professionals and the indispensable degree of demand concerning patient safety, in addition to requiring skills not always provided by academic fields. The research also revealed professional singularities that differ from other health services, identified the category's strategies in the face of the current capitalist and neoliberal model, which we are part of and has been promoting impacts for everyone involved, and ratified the absolute need for inclusion from a social perspective to this field that can have the social risk score as a great ally in this achievement.