Humanization in care for indigenous women in a reference hospitalin Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Abstract

Objective: To understand the perceptions of health professionals who work in the maternal and childcare line about the challenges in caring for indigenous women at one University Hospital reference in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Method: Cross-sectional study, using a structured online questionnaire via Google forms, sent between June and August 2020 to all 324 maternal and child health professionals. They were asked about the care provided to indigenous women in the hospital. Differences between professional categories were determined using the Kruskal Wallis test. Results: 230 professionals participated in the study, the majority from the nursing area (79.6%). Of those who responded that they knew about the ethnicities in the municipality, only 16.5% got it right and 40.0% did not know the National Humanization Policy - HumanizaSUS. There was a difference between physicians and other professionals in the practice of discussing cases of indigenous users (p<0.001). Although workers expressed positive reactions to most questions regarding humanizing practices, there were differences between professional categories in this perception. Conclusion: There is still a great need to improve assistance to indigenous peoples in specialized care, with a need to change the organization of work and the professional attitude towards the singularities of indigenous women, especially in promoting continuing education actions.