Implantação do teste rápido de HIV e sífilis na rede cegonha, em Porto Alegre (RS) : avaliação a partir da percepção dos profissionais da atenção primária em saúde e gestantes

Abstract

The present dissertation has a general objective to understand how health care professionals working at the primary health care and how the pregnant women users of this service evaluate the implementation of the rapid HIV and syphilis test in the Stork Network Stork Network (Brazilian Federal Health Project at the Primary Care System) in Porto Alegre, RS. This is a qualitative, descriptive and exploratory research conducted in basic health units of the eight administration districts of Porto Alegre. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, in which13 health professionals and 16 pregnant women participated. The results were analysed through the thematic content analysis, using the Atlas ti software. The research unfolded in two empirical studies that constituted the body of this dissertation. The first study describes the evaluation that the primary health care professionals perform during the implementation of the rapid HIV and syphilis tests in the Stork Network, in the city of Porto Alegre, RS. In this study, the key results were lack of assumption in respect to the health system polices, lack of infrastructure of the health services, discontinuity of the capacitation and matrix support, the test demand, difficulty of the health care professionals to speak about sexuality and sexual practices, counselling as an essential instrument during the performance of the rapid test, the importance of the participation of the partners during the prenatal care, the rapid HIV testing, and the use of condom. The second study covers the perception of the pregnant women, who are users of the primary health care, about the rapid HIV and syphilis tests, and about the counselling received in the Stork Network, in the city Porto Alegre, RS. The main results of this study observed from the speeches of the pregnant women are the importance of the health professional in explaining the users of the service about the reliability of the test and the counselling. In addition, the analysis of the interviews showed that some pregnant women received counselling and provided positive value about it, while others did not receive the counselling. Furthermore, some women pointed out that the counselling seemed to be restricted only to the pre-test. Power mechanisms of the health professionals that compromise the autonomy of women could be observed from the speeches of the pregnant women. In relation to the use of condoms, confidence in the partner was another factor that appeared to be associated with the non-use of condoms. Condom use during the gestational period also appeared linked to an idea of greater care with the baby, over the care of the mother. In conclusion, the importance of dialogue between professionals and users and the participation of partners in prenatal care could be observed through the speeches of the pregnant women.